Lessons from History : Reflections on the past, Present & Future of Two Muslim communities, livre ebook

• A comparative account of Jewish and Muslim historical experience organized around revelation, covenant, moral responsibility, rise, decline, and reform.
• A Qur'anic philosophy of history that interprets collective prosperity and humiliation as morally significant rather than merely political or economic phenomena.
• An English adaptation of a 1993 Urdu work, revised with biblical quotations, historical dates, and references relating especially to early Jewish history.
• A sustained discussion of Islamic eschatology, including al-Malhamah, al-Dajjal, the return of Prophet 'Isa, and the author's conception of a future Islamic order.
• A concluding program of individual repentance, collective moral renewal, and non-violent organized reform, with particular attention to Pakistan.

Shelve under Islamic Studies / Islamic Thought and History, near works on Qur'anic philosophy of history, Muslim civilizational decline, South Asian Islamic revival, and comparative Abrahamic religion. This is a substantial interpretive monograph rather than a general narrative history. Its natural readership includes readers of Dr Israr Ahmad, students of modern Islamic movements, study circles, seminary and university readers, and those examining Islamic eschatology. The strongest secondary placements are Comparative Religion, Religion and Politics, South Asian Muslim Thought, and Islamic Eschatology. The book should be described as a primary statement of the author's theological-historical worldview, especially because its judgments on Judaism, Christianity, Pakistan, world politics, and the end times are confessional and argumentative.

The rationale behind going through all these details of Jewish history is to be able to see our faces in their mirror. Both the Muslims and the Jews claim to be the followers of a holy messenger of Almighty Allah (swt), and both were endowed with Divine Scriptures. This in itself constitutes a significant common factor, meaning that the two are essentially similar communities. According to a tradition that appears in Jame' Tirmidhi, Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said: “My Ummah will undergo and experience all those conditions which were experienced by the Children of Israel, just as a shoe resembles its pair.” The parallelism between the history of Muslims and that of Jews is indeed amazing. A comparative study of their past reveals that, like the Israelites, we Muslims have also undergone two phases of rise and two phases of decline, as alluded to by Prophet Muhammad (saw) in the above prediction. What follows, therefore, is an outline of the history of Muslims vis-à-vis their rise and decline over the last fourteen centuries, and this will clearly demonstrate the points of resemblance between the Jews and Muslims. The principal reason, however, for presenting this comprehensive yet brief chronological sketch of our past is two fold: First, as far as “rise” is concerned, we need to fully appreciate our past grandeur and glories, so that our younger generations can be motivated to recapture that lost greatness and to try and revive this half-dead tiger that was once the Muslim Ummah. Second, with reference to “decline,” we need to clearly understand that Allah's Justice is the same for everyone, and His laws are permanent and immutable. The manner in which He treated the previous Muslim Ummah — the Jews — was repeated in His dealings with us. When we indulged in the same sins and crimes as were committed by the Jews, we received the same punishment as was given to them.

Contents

Foreword
Prologue
Traveling Through Time
The Humiliated Ummah
History is the Key
The Wrath of Almighty Allah
Privileges & Obligations
The Present and Former Muslim Ummah
Common Denominators
The Difference Between Us & Them
A Backward Glance

Early Jewish History
Israel's Golden Age
First Period of Decline
Reform & Revival: The Maccabees
The Second Era of Decline
Two of a Kind

The Muslim Golden Age
First Period of Decline
Life After Death
Second Period of Decline
Back to the Present

Moving Upwards
First Stage of Revival
Second Dimension
Islamic Resurgence
Jewish Revival

Third of the Trinity: The Christians
ABC of Christianity
Five Points of Convergence
Innovations by Paul
The Myth of Crucifixion
Allies of One Another

Before the Doomsday
The Ascendancy of Islam
The Ascent of Humanity
The Way to God's Kingdom
Armageddon!
Dajjal: A System of Life
The Identity of Dajjal
About Prophet ʿĪsā
From Dishonor to Exaltation

The State of Our Affairs
The Impending Doom
Repentance: The Only Way to Salvation