No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

“Religion is the story of faith. It is the institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence.”

Reza Aslan here articulates his distinction between faith and religion, a view shaped by his experience in the academic discipline of religious studies. By distinguishing faith from the institution of religion, Aslan attempts to delegitimatize the claims that religious leaders are able to impose an absolute, unchanging truth.

“Rather, sacred history is like a hallowed tree whose roots dig deep into primordial time and whose branches weave in and out of genuine history with little concern for the boundaries of space and time. Indeed, it is precisely at those moments when sacred and genuine history collide that religions are born. The clash of monotheisms occurs when faith, which is mysterious and ineffable and eschews all categorizations, becomes entangled in the gnarled branches of religion.”

Aslan here presents his rationale for retelling the stories of Muhammad that are passed down by the Muslim community without always worrying if they are historically accurate: The story itself is important. However, those stories are not always actual history. Monotheistic religions like Christianity and Islam contradict each other only when one believes they are making objective claims—a mistake, in Aslan’s view, since religious experience can never be captured in words.

“After all, religion is by definition, interpretation; and, by definition, all interpretations are valid.”

This statement encapsulates both Aslan’s religious relativism and foreshadows his commitment to pluralism in Islam and beyond. If all interpretations are valid, then fundamentalists and traditionalist Muslims trying to impose a single interpretation are wrong and oppressive against other Muslims.