ABSTRACT
Islam as a religion focuses on its scripture, the Quran. Ruling over all of the Quran, and the reference point for all the developments of the themes, is the figure of God, Allah in Arabic. As with haram in the sense of "sanctify," halal can suggest a special relationship with God which marks its opposite off as separate. The Quran is, and has been from the beginning of the emergence of Islam as a firmly established religion, the primary point to which reference must always be made in order to define something as "Islamic." The isolation of one of the central elements of Christian polemic against Islam—that Muhammad's religion was spread by the sword—is combined here with the demand for proof of a miracle. For the Muslim community, the Quran is the word of God as revealed to Muhammad, the focal point of the Islamic faith.
