Seven Doors to Islam

Seven Doors to Islam reveals the religious worldview and spiritual tradition of the world's one billion Muslims. Spanning the breadth of Islamic civilization from Morocco to Indonesia, this book demonstrates how Muslims have used the literary and visual arts in all their richness and diversity to communicate religious values. Each of the seven chapters opens a "door" that leads progressively closer to the very heart of Islam, from the foundational revelation in the Qur'an to the transcendent experience of the Sufi mystics. However, unlike most studies of Islam, which see spirituality as the concern of a minority of mystical seekers, Seven Doors demonstrates its central role in every aspect of the Islamic tradition.

John Renard is the author of In the Footsteps of Muhammed: Understanding Islamic Experience (1992), Islam and the Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts (1993), and All the King's Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation (1994). He is Professor of Theological Studies at St. Louis University.

List of Illustrations 
Preface 

ONE 
FOUNDATIONS: PROPHETIC REVELATION
Qur'an in Islamic Spirituality 
Sacred Scripture 
Interpreting Qur'an 
Scriptural Themes 
Hadith in Islamic Spirituality 
Sayings of the Prophet
Sayings of the Imams 
Sacred Sayings 
Experiencing Qur'an and Hadith 
Sacred Literature 
Memory and Recitation 
Seeing the Word 

TWO
DEVOTION: RITUAL AND PERSONAL PRAYER
On the Liturgical Calendar 
About the Five Pillars 
From the Pulpit 
Art and Architecture 
Devotion beyond Duty 
Prayer
Rites of Passage 
Sermons for Every Occasion 
Art and Architecture 

THREE
INSPIRATION: EDIFICATION AND ETHICS
Exemplary Models 
Prophets and Friends of God 
Individual Life Stories 
Collected Lives 
Wisdom Literature
Pointers for the Powerful 
Morals for the Masses 
Encountering the Exemplars 
Storytelling as Entertainment 
Visual Arts as Education 

FOUR
AESTHETICS: FROM ALLEGORY TO ARABESQUE
Literature and Spirituality 
Religious Poetry 
Metaphor  
Allegory 
Principal Poetic Forms 
Didactic Poetry 
Lyric Poetry 
Arabesque and Aesthetics 
Visual Symbolism 
Architectural Symbolism 
Painting and the Decorative Arts 

FIVE 
COMMUNITY: SOCIETY, INSTITUTIONS,
AND PATRONAGE
Social and Historical Contexts 
Religion, Society, and Culture 
Money and Power 
Institutional Texts 
Public Support 
Private Discipline 
Patronage and the Arts 
Patronage 
Building Community 
Spirituality of Artist and Patron 

SIX 
PEDAGOGY: FANNING SPARK INTO FLAME
Learning for Life 
Issues and Questions 
Sufism's Great Books 
From the Great Teachers 
Between Sermon and Seminar 
Borrowed Notes 
Keeping in Touch 
Required Reading for Mystics 
Advice for Inexperienced Travelers 
Mystical Geography 
Languages of the Spirit 

SEVEN
EXPERIENCE: TESTIMONY, PARADIGM,
AND CRITIQUE
From Theory to Practice 
Religion and Experience 
Heart Speaks to Heart 
Soul on Pilgrimage 
Narrative and Imagination 
Muhammad as Mystical Model 
Beyond Storytelling 
Saying the Unsayable 
Explaining the Unexplainable 
Evaluating Experience 
The Science of Hearts 
Traveling Companions 

REPRISE: 
JOSEPH OF THE SEVEN DOORS

Notes 
Select Glossary 
Index of Qur'anic Citations 
General Index