ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the people and the texts that have substantiated the Worldviews of Mainstream Islam, Ideological Islamism and Islamist Extremism and the contexts in which they occurred. Al-Fatiha means 'The Opening Chapter'. This is the first chapter of the Qur'an, which Muslims recite in every cycle of the Obligatory Prayer so that observant Muslims will recite it at least 19 times per day. Others of the many chapters of the Qur'an that articulate the foundational doctrinal elements of Mainstream Islam and that are loved by Muslims and seminal to the life of the Muslim believer include the Chapter of Sincerity and the Verse of the Throne. The verse declares the absolute transcendent difference between the Creator and the creature in that God, the Creator, does not share the characteristic of all sentient life, namely the need for sleep.