While most introductory books emphasize the shari’a, and especially the “Five Pillars,” as the primary defining characteristic of Islam, Vernon James Schubel provides an alternative introduction which instead underscores the importance of humanity and the human being within Islamic thought and practice.

1 Introduction: Teaching Humanity—Islam as a Humanistic Tradition.- Islam as a Humanistic Tradition.- Defining Humanism and the Humanities.- Orientalism and the Study of Islam.- Islam as a Legalistic Tradition.- Three Men and an Elephant: Describing Islam.- Islam: The Straight Path, or Is It?.- Islam or Islam(s)?: Accounting for Islamic Diversity.- Talal Asad: Islam as a Discursive Tradition.- Shahab Ahmed and the Critique of Asad.- The “Pre-Text”.- The “Con-Text”: The Product of Engagement.- Islam as an Affective Tradition.- Challenging Textual Essentialism.- Moving Beyond the Text: There Is a Reason They Call It Folk Wisdom Teaching Humanity: An Alternative Introduction to Islam.- Questions for Discussion.-2 Islam’s Diverse Paths, Part One: Patterns of Belief.- Defining Islam.- Islam’s Diverse Paths.- Islam: A Man and A Book.- Islam: Unity in Diversity.- Usul al-Din: The Roots of Religion.- Tawhid: The Unity of God.- Mansur Al-Hallaj: The Secret of Ana al-Haqq.- Nubuwwa: Belief in Prophets.- A Brief Outline of the Life of the Historical Muhammad.- Following Muhammad: The Prophet as a Model for Later Generations Qiyama: Belief in the Day of Judgment.- Conclusion.- Questions for Discussion.- 3 Islam’s Diverse Paths, Part Two: Patterns of Practice and Identity.-The Path of “Law”: The Shariʿa.- ʿIbadat and Muʿamalat: Shariʿa as Ritual and Social Practice.- Muʿamalat: Shariʿa as Social Practice.- Shariʿa: Islamic Law?.- The Path of Morality and Etiquette: Akhlaq and Adab.- Paths of Love: Mahabba and ʿIshq.- Walking the Path of Love: The Story of Layla and Majnun.- Islam’s Diverse Communities: Shiʿa, Sunni, and Sufi.- The Force of History: From Saqifa to Karbala.- A Man and a Book: Accounting for Sunni and Shiʿi Islam.- Shiʿi Islam: The Path of Devotional Allegiance.- Shiʿi Islam’s Diverse Paths.- Sunni Islam: The Islam of the Sunna and the Community.- Belief in the AwliyaʾAllah: The Sufi Tradition.- Wahdat al-Wujud and the Sufi Tradition.- Conclusion: Islam as a Humanistic Tradition.- Questions for Discussion.- 4 Teaching Humanity: The Human Being as the Object and Means of Revelation in Islamic Piety.-Approaching the Qurʾan.- The Qurʾan as Sacred Presence.- The Form and Content of the Qurʾan.- Qurʾanic Verses: Affirmations of Tawhid and Qiyama.- Qurʾanic Verses: Practice and Ethics.- Qurʾanic Verses: Narratives.- Interpreting the Qurʾan.- Muhkamat and Mutashabihat Verses.- Teachers of Humanity: Prophets, Imams, and Awliyaʾ.- Adam in the Qurʾan.- Iblis and Adam in the Qurʾan.- Mansur al-Hallaj and the Creation of Adam.- The Alevi Understanding of the Adam and Iblis Story.- The Narrative of Khidr and Musa.- Conclusion: Humanity in the Qurʾan.- Questions for Discussion.- 5 Patterns of Devotional Allegiance: God’s Friends (AwliyaʾAllah) and Perfected Persons (al-Insan al-Kamil).- Devotional Allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad.- Love and Devotional Allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad.- Love and Devotion for ʿAli b. Abu Talib.- Karbala: Shiʿi Islam’s Spiritual Fulcrum.- Karbala as a Meme.- Karbala as a Root Paradigm.- Victor Turner on Human Nature: Communitas and Structure.- Etic and Emic.- Devotional Allegiance in the Sufi Tradition.- The Story of Baba Farid Shakr Ganj and Mullah Sahab.- Interpretation.- Ahmet Yesevi in the Vilayetname.- The Proclamation of the Praiseworthy Qualities of Hoca Ahmet Yesevi Hezretleri Analysis.- Conclusion.- Questions for Discussion.- 6 My Qibla Is a Man: Islam Beyond the Shariʿa.- Defining Alevilik.- The Nature of Alevi Religion.- Alevilik as Shiʿi Piety.- Alevilik as a Sufi Tradition.- The Cem.- The Origin of the Cem in the Miraç of the Prophet.- Contemporary Alevilik.- Urban Cems and Cem Evis.- Alevi Music and Performance.- The Saz and the Minaret.- Contemporary Alevi Literature.- Narratives from the Vilayetname.- The Narrative of the Lineage and Birth of Hacı Bektaş in the Vilayetname.- The Vilayetname as an Islamic Text.- The Narrative of Güvenç Abdal.- My Qibla is a Man: Islam Beyond the Law.- Questions for Discussion.- 7 Conclusion: Not an Excess of Religion, But a Lack of Humanity—In Search of “Mainstream Islam”.- Radical Muslims and Muslim Extremists.- How to Write About Muslims.- Islam and Humanity.- The “Reformers” and Their Legacy.- In Search of “Mainstream” Islam.- “I Created Everything for You and You for Me:” An Alternative View of Islam.- Creating Insan al-Kamil: The End of Humanity.- “Mainstream Islam” and Shari‘a.- “Mainstream Islam” and Modernity.- Conclusion.- Questions for Discussion.- Glossary.- Bibliography.

This book introduces Islam through a "humanistic" lens, by highlighting the affective traditions and expressions associated with Sufism and Shi'ism. While most introductory books emphasize the shari’a, and especially the “Five Pillars,” as the primary defining characteristic of Islam, Vernon James Schubel provides an alternative introduction which instead underscores the importance of humanity and the human being within Islamic thought and practice. The book stresses the diversity of Islamic beliefs and practices, presenting them as varied responses to the shared multivalent concepts of tawhid (the unity of God), nubuwwa (prophecy) and qiyama (the Day of Judgment). Readers are introduced to essential aspects of Islam including the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an, the development of the shari‘a, and the emergence of the Sunni, Shi‘a and Sufi traditions. The book concludes with a call to redefine “mainstream” Islam, as a religious tradition focused on the centrality of love and rooted in the importance of humanity and universal human virtues. Vernon James Schubel is Professor of Religious Studies at Kenyon College where he also helped to establish its Asian and Middle East Studies and Islamic Civilization and Cultures programs. He is the author of numerous articles on Islam and the monograph, Religious Performance in Contemporary Islam: Shi‘i Devotional Rituals in South Asia.

“A genuinely pioneering, brilliant introduction to Islam that draws on the richness, diversity and dynamism of the Muslim tradition through history. Foregrounding embodied and affective dimensions of this living tradition in ways that reclaim the deep current of humanity and humaneness at the heart of the Muslim tradition, Schubel enlarges the global archive of knowledge, beauty and meaning-making with analytical verve. Skilfully weaving major scholarly debates in the study of Islam and the study of religions more broadly, he provides a lucid, accessible and sophisticated introduction. Teaching Humanity will challenge, provoke and inspire students and specialists alike to ask fundamental questions anew. This is a truly pleasurable and edifying read that dismantles old hegemonies and provides creative pathways for the study of Islam.”—Sa’diyya Shaikh, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Feminist Theory, University of Capetown, South Africa"Embracing the full diversity of Islamic religious traditions, Teaching Humanity shows how the beliefs, ethics, practices, and sacred stories of Islam lead human beings towards love, justice, altruism, and other universal human values. It takes a different path than other textbooks do. We learn about all the topics that one might expect— from the Qur’an to Islamic law—but we do so by seeing how the elements of Islam work together to make us more humane." —Edward E. Curtis IV, Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts, Indiana University, USA"Humanity, in all of its messy and meaningful diversity, is the guiding theme of this new text designed to introduce the religion of Islam. Schubel’s work is full of fresh insights and informed by both scholarly and insider perspectives on religion and its ongoing explorations of the meaning of life. The work’s engaging narrative style incorporates sensitivity to story telling and awareness of lived Islam enriched by the author’sextensive fieldwork among Turkish Alevis, South Asia Shi’i Muslims, and Pakistani Sufis." —Marcia Hermansen, Professor and Director of Islamic Studies at Loyola University, Chicago, USA

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