Sublime

Of the good that they do, nothing will be rejected of them;

those who believe and do good works. We shall admit them to Gardens through which rivers flow; wherein they will abide forever.

Yet despite his success, Muhammad felt deeply conflicted by his dual status in Meccan society.

The year is 632 C.E. Two years have passed since Muhammad walked triumphantly into Mecca and cleansed the Ka‘ba in the name of the one God. At that time, he was a robust man at the peak of his political and spiritual power, unquestionably the most dominant leader in Arabia. Ironically, the movement that had begun as an attempt to reclaim the tribal

Therein lies the principal difference between the Shi‘ah and the Sunni. The Shi‘ah believe that salvation requires the intercession of Muhammad, his son-in-law Ali, his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Prophet’s legitimate successors, the Imams, who not only serve as humanity’s intercessors on the Last Days, but who further function

Despite the common perception in the West, the Muslim conquerors did not force conversion upon the conquered peoples; indeed, they did not even encourage it. The fact is that the financial and social advantages of being an Arab Muslim in the eighth and ninth centuries were such that Islam quickly became an élite clique, which a non-Arab could join

eat and drink: but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.

Basilidans