"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد I. ١٩١٨" [‎١‎٢‎١] (٥٦٨/١٣٠)

(g)
■ Fkki
!«lk
a. ui
ttflu
Js CHAPTER VIII
EELIGIONS
Islam—Christian sects—Yezidis—Sabians—Jews—Qizilbash and Sliabbaks.
Islam
The preponderance of Islam in Mesopotamia rests not only on
the great numerical superiority of Moslems over non-Moslems, but also
on the historic part played by Irak in the development of the Moham
medan power and faith. It was here that the events occurred which
gave birth to the Shiah schism, here too was the seat of the Baghdad
Caliphate, and here—at Kerbela, Kazimain, Nejef, and Kufeh—are
shrines venerated at least equally with Mecca and Medina in Shiah
Moslem estimation.
Tenets
The tenets of Islam, which claims to be a divinely revealed religion,
given to the world by Mohammed as the last of a succession of inspired
messengers, may be briefly summarized under (a) (h)
(a) The doctrine and practices are to be found in (i) the Book of God —
the Koran—which was sent down from the highest heaven to Gabriel
in the lowest, who revealed it in turn by sections to Mohammed ;
(ii) the collections of tradition {hadith) containing the sayings and
manners of life {sunna) of the Prophet; (iii) the use of analogy
as applied to (i) and (ii) ; (iv) the universal consent (ijma) of the
believers. Orthodox Islam recognizes the Koran as the work not
of Mohammed, but of God; but Moslem theologians recognized
some revelations as inconsistent with others, and so developed the
doctrine of nasikh and mansukh (abrogation), whereby it is taught that
in certain definite cases a later revelation supersedes an earlier.
Upon the nature of God Islam is very explicit. God is one and uni
versal from the beginning. His unity being emphasized as against
the Christian Trinity. The cosmology of Mohammedanism is too
elaborate to be here reproduced, but some reference to its ethics is
essential. These latter are based on belief {iman), good works,
complete surrender to God's will as the necessary condition
of religious life, and fear of His judgement. The eschatology of the