ISLAM (Arabic, "submission" to the will of God) is the name which all Muhammadans give to their religion; it claims to be a divine revelation communicated to the world through Muham mad, who was the last of a succession of inspired prophets, be ginning with Adam. Its doctrine and practice are based upon (I) the Word of God, the Qur'an (see KORAN) ; (2) the traditions (Hadith), or rather the sayings and manner of life (sunna) of Muhammad, as contained in the traditions.
The ceremonies of the hajj have been described by several European travellers who have witnessed them, such as J. L. Burckhardt in 1814, Sir Richard Burton in 1853. (See bibli ography to MECCA.) A concise account of them is given in T. P. Hughes Notes on Muhammadanism, 3rd ed. (1894). Details in vol. i. of Bukhari's traditions (Houdas and Marcais's French translation, i. The Development of Islam.—The battle of Siffin (657) be tween 'Ali and Mu'awiya was the occasion of the first breach in the unity of Islam, and the results remain to this day. The occa sion was in the first case political in connection with the disputed succession to the Caliphate (q.v.). After the battle 'Ali was com pelled to submit his claims to arbitration, whereupon a number of his supporters (the Kharijites or Khawarij) broke away from him, saying that there should have been no appeal save to the Book of God.
The most important sectarian division in Islam—Sunni, Shiah and Khawarij—have their origin in divergent theories on the office of the Caliph (Khalifa), the head of the Muslim commu nity as successor of the Prophet.
The fourth basis of Islam, according to the Sunnis, is qiyiis, i.e., analogy. It is that process by which a belief or practice is justified on the ground of something similar but not identical in the Qur'an, the tradition, or ijma`. Originally it seems to have been instituted as a check upon the use of private opinion (ra'y) in the teaching of doctrine. The extent to which it may be used is a subject of much discussion among theologians. Some would apply it only to a "material similarity," others to similarity of motive or cause as well.
By the ninth century there were established in the Sunni world the four schools of law, which exist to the present day—Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'l and Hanbali—(for these and the wide extension of the concept of law in Islam, see ISLAMIC LAW). They assidu ously cultivated the various branches of Muslim theology and law, and the students they trained became the 'ulama (or, learned), who have filled such an important place in the history of Sunni countries. In former times the colleges of Damascus, Baghdad, Nishapur, Bukhara, Cairo, Qayrawan, Seville, Cordova, were thronged by thousands of students ; and the Azhar university in Cairo still preserves some of the characteristics of these earlier seats of learning. From their ranks were chosen the qadis (judges), the muftis (the authoritative exponents of the sacred law), and in countries like Turkey, in which they enjoyed the confidence of the government, they occupied numerous other offi cial positions, and acquired wealth and power. The 'ulama have constituted the only equivalent in the Muslim world to the priest hood in Christendom, and have been active in the defence of orthodoxy and in resisting foreign influences. The Turkish re public has deprived them of most of their power, and in countries under European control their influence has greatly declined. Among the Sunnis the various orders of Dervishes (q.v.) have achieved a vast expansion.
The foundations of Sunni theology for succeeding generations were laid in the loth century by Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash`ari (see Asi-e Am) ; he was for 4o years a Mu`tazilite, then became ortho dox, and at once applied rational methods for the support and in terpretation of the orthodox faith. Before him, reason had not been allowed any scope in orthodox theology. He was not the first to use it; some teachers (as al-Junayd) had employed it in teaching, but only in secret and for the few. The methods of scholastic philosophy were now introduced into Muslim theology. The chief characteristic of his religious teaching was the adoption of the via media between materialistic grossness and the ideas of pure speculative philosophy. Thus he taught, as to the attributes of God, that they exist, but are not to be compared with human attributes; as to His visibility, that He can be seen but without the limitations of human sight. As to the great question of free will, he denied man's power but asserted his responsibility. So he passed in review the doctrines of God, faith, the Qur'an, sin, intercession, etc., and for the first time in the history of Islam produced a systematic theology. The teaching of Ash`ari was taken up and propagated by the Buwayhids soon after his death, and was developed and perfected by Abu Bakr al-Baqilani, the Cadi, (d. 1012), but up to the middle of the 5th century of Islam (c. A.D. 1058) was suspected elsewhere and confounded with Mu`tazilism. The Ash`arite al-Juwayni (known as Imam al-Hara mayn) was persecuted under Toghrul Beg (c. 1053) and exiled, but was restored under Alp Arslan by the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who founded an Ash`arite college (the Nizamiyya). In the West, lbn Hazm (q.v.) fiercely opposed the system, but Ghazali estab lished its orthodoxy in the East, and it spread from Persia to Syria and Egypt under the Ayyubids and Mamluks and thence to the Almohades in Africa under Ibn TUmart (I 130). It remains the predominating influence to the present day, its only serious rival being the theological system of al-Maturidi, a Hanifite (d. 945), whose creed as represented in that of an-Nasafi is still used largely by the Turks. Since the 12th century no great theological move ment has been made in Islam. The quiet of religious life has thrice been broken by Wahhabism (q.v.) in Arabia, by Babism (q.v.) in Persia, and by the Ahmadiyyah (see below) in India.
The Shi'ites quite early broke up into a number of sects, several of which no longer exist. The most important at the present day is that of the Twelvers (the Ithna'ashariyya) so called because they accept as Imams twelve of the descendants of 'Ali. The 12th Imam, Muhammad, is said to have disappeared about 874, but to be still living, and he will return in the last days to establish the Shiah faith in the world. This has been the official creed of Persia since the beginning of the i6th century, and that of most of the Shi'ites of India. The Ismallis or Seveners are the fol lowers of Isma`il, whom they regard as the 7th Imam, rather than his younger brother, Musa (797), who is accepted by the Twelvers. To the Isma`ilis belong the Carmathians (q.v.), the Fatimites (q.v.), the Assassins (q.v.) and the Druses (q.v.). The Zaydites are the followers of Zayd, a grandson of Husayn, and are the most moderate of the Shi'ites, for though holding that the imamate belongs only to the descendants of 'Ali by Fatima, and that any of these might be Imam (even though two or three should be in existence at the same time), they allow that circumstances might justify the appointment of another caliph for the time. Thus they acknowledge the imamate of Abil Bakr, and Tmar, though 'Ali was more entitled to the office. One branch of the Zay dites, arising in the Yemen about 893, has remained there until the present day.
The Shi'ites differ from the Sunnites not only in their political theory of the caliphate, but in matters of law and ceremonial. They reject all the Sunnite books of Hadith or tradition, but have collections of traditions of their own, and claim to follow the Sunna, or way, of the Prophet, even as the Sunnis do. An allegor ical and mystical interpretation reconciles the words of the Qur'an with the inordinate respect paid to 'Ali; the Sunnite doctrine of the uncreated Qur'an is denied. To the creed "There is no god but God ; Muhammad is the apostle of God" they add "and 'Ali is the vice-regent of God" (wali, properly "confidant"). There are some modifications in detaii as to the four main religious duties of Islam—the prescriptions of ritual purity, in particular, being made the main duty of the faithful. The prayers are almost exactly the same, but to take part in public worship is not obliga tory, as there is at present no legitimate imam whose authority can direct the prayer of the congregation. Pilgrimage to Mecca may be performed by a hired substitute, or its place can be taken by a visit to the tombs of Shi'ite saints, e.g., that of 'Ali at Najaf, of Husayn at Karbala, of Riza at Mashhad, or of the "unstained Fatima" at Qum (daughter of MUsa, the 7th Imam). The Shi'ites are much the most zealous of Muslims in the worship of saints (real or supposed descendants of 'Ali) and in pilgrimages to their graves, and they have a characteristic eagerness to be buried in those holy places. They celebrate many religious feasts. Of these the great sacrificial feast (`id-i-Qurbdn; Turkish Qurbdn Bairam) is also Sunnite ; the first ten days of the month Muharram are dedicated to the mourning for the death of Husayn at Karbala which is celebrated by passion-plays (ta'ziya), while the uni versal joy of the Nawrilz, or the new year of the old Persian calendar, receives a Muslim sanction by the tradition that on this day the prophet conferred the caliphate on 'Ali. Shi'ite law per mits temporary marriages (mut`a), provided that a dower is speci fied, and that a period—a year, a month or a day—is fixed. An other special doctrine is that it is lawful for a man in case of dan ger or persecution to deny his faith (taqiyya, "caution"), and pass himself off as a Sunni. The best accounts of Shi'ism are in E. G. Browne, History of Persian Literature in Modern Times, index s.v. Shi`a (1924), and I. Goldziher, Vorlesungen uber den Islam, 196 sqq. (1925).
The Khawarij, the third sect (originating like the other two in disputes over the caliphate), added to their political doctrine that this office was open to any believer whom the faithful might consider fitted for it, even though he be a black slave ; certain theological doctrines on the subject of sin, e.g., they regarded any one who had committed one of the greater sins as no longer a be liever, and they rejected the doctrine of justification by faith without works. Under the Umayyads they were a source of trouble to the government through their constant risings, but un der the Abbasids they became restricted to Eastern Arabia, and only a few of them now survive there and in North Africa.
Apart from these three important groups which had their origin in primitive times and exist to the present day, there has been in Islam an immense activity in theological speculation, resulting in the formation of many sects, the majority of which have now ceased to exist. The first impulse to these speculations appears to have come from contact with Christian theologians in Damascus during the Umayyad Caliphate. Two sects arose under these in fluences—that of the Murjiites and that of the Qadarites. The Murjiites ("postponers") were so called because they postponed the judgment of human actions until the Day of Judgment. In politics they accepted the Umayyads as de facto rulers, since they were Muslims, and left the judgment of their actions to God. As theologians they taught that religion consists in belief (iman) in the unity of God and in His apostle, and in that alone, consequent ly no one who held this faith would perish eternally, though he had been a sinner. This was opposed to the Kharijite doctrine that the unrepentant sinner would perish eternally, even though he had professed Islam.
The Qadarites were concerned with the doctrine of predestina tion and free-will. So long as Muslims were fighting the battles of Islam they naturally paid most attention to those revelations which laid stress on the absolute determination of a man's destiny by God. They fought with great bravery because they believed that God had fore-ordained their death or life and they could not escape His will. In the quieter realm of town and court life and in their disputations with Christians they were called upon to recon cile this belief with the appeals made in the Qur'an to man's own self-determination to good, to courage, etc. The Qadarites declared that man had power over his own actions. But the teaching of predestination had gained too great a hold on Muslims to be thus displaced. The teaching of the Qadarites was held to be heresy, and one of its first professors, Ma`bad al-Juhani, was put to death in 699.
Many of the Qadarites were also Mu`tazilites, whose founder was Wasil ibn `Ata, who separated himself (whence his followers were called Mu`tazilites, "Separatists") from his teacher Hasan al-Basri, and founded a school which became numerous and in fluential. The Mu`tazilites objected to the attributes of God being considered in any way as entities beside God; they explained away the anthropomorphisms used in speaking of the Deity; they re garded the Qur'an as created and as a product of Muhammad writing under the divine influence. Briefly, they asserted the su premacy of reason (`aql) as distinct from faith received by tradi tion (naql). They also called themselves "the people of justice and unity" (Ahl al-`adl wat-taukid). Such a faith as this naturally found favour rather with the thinking classes than with the un educated multitude, and so went through many vicissitudes. At the time of its appearance and until the reign of Ma'mUn its ad herents were persecuted as heretics. After discussions among the theologians Ma'mun took the decided step of proclaiming that the Qur'an was created, and that a belief in this dogma was necessary. Mu`tazilites were appointed to official posts, and an inquisition (mihna) was appointed to enforce belief in their doctrine. This movement was strongly opposed by the orthodox and especially by Ahmad ibn Hanbal (q.v.). By him the founding of theology on reason was rejected, and he suffered persecution for his faith. See W. N. Patton, Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna, (Leyden, 1897). Mu`tazilism retained its sway until 849, when the caliph Mutawakkil again declared the Qur'an uncreate and restored orthodoxy.
According to an early tradition Muhammad said that Islam would be divided into 73 sects, of which 72 would perish and one would be saved. The Arabic writers on the heretical sects of Islam feel compelled therefore to restrict their number to 72, but as they adopt diverse classifications the number of sects they de scribe amounts to some hundreds. The fullest accounts available in translation are given by Shahrastani, Religionpartheien and Philo sophensthulen, flbersetzt von Th. Haarbrucker (1851), and by `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, Moslem Schisms and Sects, trans. by K. C. Seelye (1920).
In modern times the most important sectarian developments have been those of the Wahhabis (q.v.), the Babis (q.v.), and the Ahmadiyya. The last of these movements was started by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who, in 1879, began to preach in the village of Qadian in the province of the Punjab, India. He claimed to be not only the promised Mandi but also the promised Messiah— personages generally held to be distinct in ordinary Muslim the ology. Another modification he introduced into Islamic doctrine had reference to the death of Jesus; the commonly-accepted belief maintains that Jesus was taken by God alive into heaven, while a phantom was crucified in his place; in opposition to this he declared that Jesus was actually crucified, but was taken down from the cross while still alive by his disciples, was healed of his wounds and afterwards made his way into Kashmir, where he finally died, his tomb being still in existence in the city of Srinagar. Having thus removed the ground for any expectation of the sec ond coming of Jesus from heaven to earth, he explained that he himself was the Messiah, not as being an incarnation of Jesus (for he rejected the doctrine of transmigration), but as having come in the likeness of Jesus—being Jesus for this generation just as John the Baptist was Elijah, because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
In proof that he had come in the spirit and power of Jesus, Mirth. Ghulam Ahmad adduced the likeness of his own character and personality to that of Jesus, his gentleness of spirit, the peace ful character of his teaching, his miracles and the appropriateness of his teaching to the need of the age. In harmony with this pacific claim, he expounded the doctrine of Jihad (usually inter preted as meaning war against unbelievers) as a striving after righteousness. Mimi Ghulam Ahmad died in 1908, and a few years after his death his followers split into two parties, one hav ing its headquarters in Qadian and the other in Lahore. Both these sections of the community succeeded in enlisting the services of devoted, self-sacrificing men, who are unceasingly active as propagandists, controversialists and pamphleteers. They control an extensive missionary activity, not only in India, West Africa, Mauritius and Java (where their efforts are mainly directed to wards persuading their co-religionists to join the Ahmadiyya sect), but also in Berlin, Chicago and London. Their missionaries have devoted special efforts to winning European converts and have achieved a considerable measure of success. In their literature they give such a presentation of Islam as they consider calculated to attract persons who have received an education on modern lines, and thus not only attract non-Muslims, and rebut the attacks made on Islam by Christian controversialists, but win back to the faith Muslims who have come under agnostic or rationalist in fluences.
Apart from these organized movements, there has been con siderable theological activity in the Muslim world in recent years. This has especially expressed itself in apologetic literature, which endeavours to present Islam in a form acceptable to the present generation and to discard those special features which have ex posed it to hostile criticism ; thus polygamy, slavery and intoler ance are declared to receive no sanction from the Qur'an, as rightly interpreted ; in Islam the reconciliation of religion and science is effected, and the demands of the modern spirit of enlightenment are satisfied. Of such modernist literature there has been a con siderable output, especially in Egypt and India; it naturally ap peals most to those readers who have come under European in fluences, and excites considerable opposition among more conserv ative orthodox circles, who remain loyal to the traditional schools of thought (as enumerated above) and resent the rejection of traditional, mediaeval theology by the modern thinkers. The older sects continue to flourish, and the new thought has not yet at tempted to organize itself on sectarian lines and has thus remained largely a matter of individual opinion.
This lack of sectarian development is possibly in great measure due to the absorbing attraction that political problems during recent years have exercised upon the Muhammadan world. Anxiety as to the fate of Turkey after the Armistice, the withdrawal of the Holy Cities from the control of the Caliph and the occupation of Jerusalem by unbelievers, the separation of the Sultanate from the Caliphate (in 1922), and the abolition of the Caliphate alto gether (in 1924) were circumstances that profoundly stirred the minds of pious Muslims all the world over and did not create an atmosphere favourable to the calm consideration of purely dog matic problems. Moreover, in many Muhammadan countries some form of nationalism obscured the larger vision of a united Islamic world ; in Turkey it took the extreme form of Pan-Turanianism, or Pan-Turkism, which aimed at the union of all sections of the Turkish race in one vast confederacy and sought to purge the na tional life from all foreign admixture, in language, literature and political institutions; in India nationalist feeling prompted the Hindu-Muslim entente and gave birth to the oft-repeated senti ment, "I am an Indian first, and a Muslim afterwards"; among the Muhammadan populations of Russia the formation of Soviet Socialist republics has evoked nationalistic movements which have temporarily thrust purely religious interests into the background; Bolshevik propaganda has also met with a response among the Muslims of Java.
But Islam is so closely bound up with every aspect of the life of a Muslim people that even a purely nationalist political move ment may react strongly on the religious life. This has been notably the case in Turkey, where the Government, besides abol ishing the Caliphate, has confiscated the religious endowments and suppressed the religious orders; polygamy has practically been made illegal; the date of Ramad5.n has been fixed in accordance with astronomical science instead of being made dependent on re ports that the moon has been seen (as has been the immemorial custom in the Islamic world) ; and the discontinuance of the wear ing of the veil by women and the adoption of hats by men, are typical of a changed attitude towards the established usages of Muhammadan society. The breach with the past has been no where so violent as in Turkey, but throughout the whole Islamic world there are indications of a changed attitude towards re ligious questions. The old orthodoxy still holds the allegiance of the masses, as well as many of the educated, but others, especially those whose education has brought them under European influ ences, are seeking a re-statement of their religion, more in harmony with their general outlook upon life. To those that seek a solu tion in the realization of some nationalist ideal, there remains little save a sentimental attachment to Islam, while they deprive it of any control over law and social organization ; the reformers, on the other hand, claim for the precepts of Islam control over all the relations of human life, but seek to restore it to its primitive simplicity, believing that thus it can be brought into harmony with modern thought and modern conditions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The fullest bibliographies are given in the Encyclo paedia of Islam (in progress) under the separate articles. See also H. Lammens, L'Islam: croyances et institutions (1926; bibl. Eng. ed. in preparation) ; D. G. Pfannmiiller, Handbuch der Islam-Literatur (1923). Periodicals, such as Der Islam, Revue du Monde Musulman, Revue des Etudes lslamiques, The Moslem World, give bibliographies of current publications.