RELI G I O.U S C OMM UN ITIESMuslims sorted out among themselves which practices and attitudes
would be acceptable and which would not. The various religious back-
grounds of the converts were responsible for the controversies, and
converts continued those practices which could be supported by the
Qur'an or by early Islamic usage in the Hijaz. Muslim Arab immigrants
to Iraq were able to adopt such practices for the same reasons. Such
reinforcement was not available for the more extreme forms of Man-
ichaean and Christian asceticism, which were never acceptable to most
Muslims.
Converts to Islam continued to argue over old practices even after
they became Muslims. As a result, the conflict between Magians and
Manichaeans, between Rabbinic Jews and the Mourners for Zion, and
between Christian monks and the lay leadership of the Nestorian
community survived among Muslims in the form of a continuing ten-
sion between this-worldly practicality in religion and the super-pious
ascetic or mystic renunciation of the world.