Islam
A Brief History of Islam
The Rightly guided Caliphs
Upon the death of the Prophet, Abu Bakr, the friend of the Prophet and
the first adult male to embrace Islam, became caliph. Abu Bakr ruled for two
years to be succeeded by 'Umar who was caliph for a decade and during whose
rule Islam spread extensively east and west conquering the Persian empire,
Syria and Egypt. It was 'Umar who marched on foot at the end of the Muslim
army into Jerusalem and ordered the protection of Christian sites. 'Umar
also established the first public treasury and a sophisticated financial
administration. He established many of the basic practices of Islamic
government.
'Umar was succeeded by 'Uthman who ruled for some twelve years during
which time the Islamic expansion continued. He is also known as the caliph
who had the definitive text of the Noble Quran copied and sent to the four
corners of the Islamic world. He was in turn succeeded by 'Ali who is known
to this day for his eloquent sermons and letters, and also for his bravery.
With his death the rule of the "rightly guided" caliphs, who hold a special
place of respect in the hearts of Muslims, came to an end.
The Caliphate
Umayyad
The Umayyad caliphate established in 661 was to last for about a century.
During this time Damascus became the capital of an Islamic world which
stretched from the western borders of China to southern France. Not only did
the Islamic conquests continue during this period through North Africa to
Spain and France in the West and to Sind, Central Asia and Transoxiana in
the East, but the basic social and legal institutions of the newly founded
Islamic world were established.
Abbasids
The Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads, shifted the capital to Baghdad
which soon developed into an incomparable center of learning and culture as
well as the administrative and political heart of a vast world.
They ruled for over 500 years but gradually their power waned and they
remained only symbolic rulers bestowing legitimacy upon various sultans and
princes who wielded actual military power. The Abbasid caliphate was finally
abolished when Hulagu, the Mongol ruler, captured Baghdad in 1258,
destroying much of the city including its incomparable libraries.
While the Abbasids ruled in Baghdad, a number of powerful dynasties such
as the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks held power in Egypt, Syria and
Palestine. The most important event in this area as far as the relation
between Islam and the Western world was concerned was the series of Crusades
declared by the Pope and espoused by various European kings. The purpose,
although political, was outwardly to recapture the Holy Land and especially
Jerusalem for Christianity. Although there was at the beginning some success
and local European rule was set up in parts of Syria and Palestine, Muslims
finally prevailed and in 1187 Saladin, the great Muslim leader, recaptured
Jerusalem and defeated the Crusaders.
North Africa And Spain
When the Abbasids captured Damascus, one of the Umayyad princes escaped
and made the long journey from there to Spain to found Umayyad rule there,
thus beginning the golden age of Islam in Spain. Cordoba was established as
the capital and soon became Europe's greatest city not only in population
but from the point of view of its cultural and intellectual life. The
Umayyads ruled over two centuries until they weakened and were replaced by
local rulers.
Meanwhile in North Africa, various local dynasties held sway until two
powerful Berber dynasties succeeded in uniting much of North Africa and also
Spain in the 12th and 13th centuries. After them this area was ruled once
again by local dynasties such as the Sharifids of Morocco who still rule in
that country. As for Spain itself, Muslim power continued to wane until the
last Muslim dynasty was defeated in Granada in 1492 thus bringing nearly
eight hundred years of Muslim rule in Spain to an end.
After the Mangol Invasion
The Mongols devastated the eastern lands of Islam and ruled from the
Sinai Desert to India for a century. But they soon converted to Islam and
became known as the Il-Khanids. They were in turn succeeded by Timur and his
descendents who made Samarqand their capital and ruled from 1369 to 1500.
The sudden rise of Timur delayed the formation and expansion of the Ottoman
empire but soon the Ottomans became the dominant power in the Islamic world.
Ottoman Empire
From humble origins the Turks rose to dominate over the whole of Anatolia
and even parts of Europe. In 1453 Mehmet the Conqueror captured
Constantinople and put an end to the Byzantine empire. The Ottomans
conquered much of eastem Europe and nearly the whole of the Arab world, only
Morocco and Mauritania in the West and Yemen, Hadramaut and parts of the
Arabian peninsula remaining beyond their control. They reached their zenith
of power with Suleyman the Magnificent whose armies reached Hungary and
Austria. From the 17th century onward with the rise of Westem European
powers and later Russia, the power of the Ottomans began to wane. But they
nevertheless remained a force to be reckoned with until the First World War
when they were defeated by the Westem nations. Soon thereafter Kamal Ataturk
gained power in Turkey and abolished the six centuries of rule of the
Ottomans in 1924.
Persia
While the Ottomans were concerned mostly with the westem front of their
empire, to the east in Persia a new dynasty called the Safavids came to
power in 1502. The Safavids established a powerful state of their own which
flourished for over two centuries and became known for the flowering of the
arts. Their capital, Isfahan, became one of the most beautiful cities with
its blue tiled mosques and exquisite houses. The Afghan invasion of 1736 put
an end to Safavid rule and prepared the independence of Afghanistan which
occured fommally in the 19th century. Persia itself fell into tummoil until
Nader Shah, the last Oriental conqueror, reunited the country and even
conquered India. But the rule of the dynasty established by him was
short-lived. The Zand dynasty soon took over to be overthrown by the Qajars
in 1779 who made Tehran their capital and ruled until 1921 when they were in
turn replaced by the Pahlavis.
India
As for India, Islam entered into the land east of the Indus River
peacefully. Gradually Muslims gained political power beginning in the early
13th century. But this period which marked the expansion of both Islam and
Islamic culture came to an end with the conquest of much of India in 1526 by
Babur, one of the Timurid princes. He established the powerful Mogul empire
which produced such famous rulers as Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan and
which lasted, despite the gradual rise of British power in India, until 1857
when it was officially abolished.
Malaysia And Indonesia
Farther east in the Malay world, Islam began to spread in the 12th
century in northem Sumatra and soon Muslim kingdoms were establishd in Java,
Sumatra and mainland Malaysia. Despite the colonization of the Malay world,
Islam spread in that area covering present day Indonesia, Malaysia, the
southern Phililppines and southern Thailand, and is still continuing in
islands farther east.
Africa
As far as Africa is concemed, Islam entered into East Africa at the very
beginning of the Islamic period but remained confined to the coast for some
time, only the Sudan and Somaliland becoming gradually both Arabized and
Islamized. West Africa felt the presence of Islam through North African
traders who travelled with their camel caravans south of the Sahara. By the
14th century there were already Muslim sultanates in such areas as Mali, and
Timbuctu in West Africa and Harar in East Africa had become seats of Islamic
leaming.
Gradually Islam penetrated both inland and southward. There also appeared
major charismatic figures who inspired intense resistance against European
domination. The process of the Islamization of Africa did not cease during
the colonial period and continues even today with the result that most
Africans are now Muslims carrying on a tradition which has had practically
as long a history in certain areas of sub-Saharan Africa as Islam itself.
Islam in the United States
It is almost impossible to generalize about American Muslims: converts,
immigrants, factory workers, doctors; all are making their own contribution
to America's future. This complex community is unified by a common faith,
underpinned by a countrywide network of a thousand mosques.
Muslims were early arrivals in North America. By the eighteenth century
there were many thousands of them, working as slaves on plantations. These
early communities, cut off from their heritage and families, inevitably lost
their Islamic identity as time went by. Today many Afro-American Muslims
play an important role in the Islamic community.
The nineteenth century, however, saw the beginnings of an influx of Arab
Muslims, most of whom settled in the major industrial centers where they
worshipped in hired rooms. The early twentieth century witnessed the arrival
of several hundred thousand Muslims from Eastem Europe: the first Albanian
mosque was opened in Maine in 1915; others soon followed, and a group of
Polish Muslims opened a mosque in Brooklyn in 1928.
In 1947 the Washington Islamic Center was founded during the term of
President Truman, and several nationwide organizations were set up in the
fifties. The same period saw the establishment of other communities whose
lives were in many ways modelled after Islam. More recently, numerous
members of these groups have entered the fold of Muslim orthodoxy. Today
there are about five million Muslims in America.
Aftermath of the Colonial Period
At the height of European colonial expansion in the 19th century, most of
the Islamic world was under colonial rule with the exception of a few
regions such as the heart of the Ottoman empire, Persia, Afghanistan, Yemen
and certain parts of Arabia. But even these areas were under foreign
influence or, in the case of the Ottomans, under constant threat. After the
First World War with the breakup of the Ottoman empire, a number of Arab
states such as Iraq became independent, others like Jordan were created as a
new entity and yet others like Palestine, Syria and Lebanon were either
mandated or turned into French colonies. As for Arabia, it was at this time
that Saudi Arabia became finally consolidated. As for other parts of the
Islamic world, Egypt which had been ruled by the descendents of Muhammad Ali
since the l9th century became more independent as a result of the fall of
the Ottomans, Turkey was turned into a secular republic by Ataturk, and the
Pahlavi dynasty began a new chapter in Persia where its name reverted to its
eastern traditional form of Iran. But most of the rest of the Islamic world
remained under colonial rule.
Arab
It was only after the Second World War and the dismemberment of the
British, French, Dutch and Spanish empires that the rest of the Islamic
world gained its independence. In the Arab world, Syria and Lebanon became
independent at the end of the war as did Libya and the shaykdoms around the
Gulf and the Arabian Sea by the 1960's. The North African countries of
Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria had to fight a difficult and, in the case of
Algeria, long and protracted war to gain their freedom which did not come
until a decade later for Tunisia and Morocco and two decades later for
Algeria. Only Palestine did not become independent but was partitioned in
1948 with the establishment of the state of Israel.
India
In India Muslims participated in the freedom movement against British
rule along with Hindus and when independence finally came in 1947, they were
able to create their own homeland, Pakistan, which came into being for the
sake of Islam and became the most populated Muslim state although many
Muslims remained in India. In 1971, however, the two parts of the state
broke up, East Pakistan becoming Bengladesh.
Far East
Farther east still, the Indonesians finally gained their independence
from the Dutch and the Malays theirs from Britain. At first Singapore was
part of Malaysia but it separated in 1963 to become an independent state.
Small colonies still persisted in the area and continued to seek their
independence, the kingdom of Brunei becoming independent as recently as
1984.
Africa
In Africa also major countries with large or majority Muslim populations
such as Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania began to gain their independence in
the 1950's and 1960's with the result that by the end of the decade of the
60's most parts of the Islamic world were formed into independent national
states. There were, however, exceptions. The Muslim states in the Soviet
Union failed to gain their autonomy or independence. The same holds true for
Sinkiang (called Eastem Turkestan by Muslim geographers) while in Eritrea
and the southern Philippines Muslim independence movements still continue.
National States
While the world of Islam has entered into the modern world in the form of
national states, continuous attempts are made to create closer cooperation
within the Islamic world as a whole and to bring about greater unity. This
is seen not only in the meetings of the Muslim heads of state and the
establishment of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) with its own
secretariat, but also in the creation of institutions dealing with the whole
of the Islamic world. Among the most important of these is the Muslim World
League (Rabitat al-alam al-Islami ) with its headquarters in Makkah. Saudi
Arabia has in fact played a pivotal role in the creation and maintenance of
such organizations.
Revival and Reassertation of Islam
Muslims did not wish to gain only their political independence. They also
wished to assert their own religious and cultural identity. From the 18th
century onward Muslim reformers appeared upon the scene who sought to
reassert the teachings of Islam and to reform society on the basis of
Islamic teachings. One of the first among this group was Muhammad ibn 'Abd
al-Wahhab, who hailed from the Arabian peninsula and died there in 1792.
This reformer was supported by Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ud, the founder of the
first Saudi state. With this support Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was able to
spread his teachings not only in Arabia but even beyond its borders to other
Islamic lands where his reforms continue to wield influence to this day.
In the 19th century lslamic assertion took several different forms
ranging from the Mahdi movement of the Sudan and the Sanusiyyah in North
Africa which fought wars against European colonizers, to educational
movements such as that of Aligarh in India aiming to reeducate Muslims. In
Egypt which, because of al-Azhar University, remains to this day central to
Islamic learning, a number of reformers appear, each addressing some aspect
of Islamic thought. Some were concerned more with law, others economics, and
yet others the challenges posed by Western civilization with its powerful
science and technology. These included Jamal al-Din al-Afghani who hailed
originally from Persia but settled in Cairo and who was the great champion
of Pan-Islamism, that is the movement to unite the Islamic world politically
as well as religiously. His student, Muhammad 'Abduh, who became the rector
of al-Azhar. was also very influential in Islamic theology and thought. Also
of considerable influence was his Syrian student, Rashid Rida, who held a
position closer to that of 'Abd al-Wahhab and stood for the strict
application of the Shari'ah. Among the most famous of these thinkers is
Muhammad Iqbal, the outstanding poet and philosopher who is considered as
the father of Pakistan.
Reform Organizations
Moreover, as Western influence began to penetrate more deeply into the
fiber of Islamic society, organizations gradually grew up whose goal was to
reform society in practice along Islamic lines and prevent its
secularization. These included the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-muslimin)
founded in Egypt and with branches in many Muslim countries, and the
Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan founded by the influential Mawlana Mawdudi.
These organizations have been usually peaceful and have sought to
reestablish an Islamic order through education. During the last two decades,
however, as a result of the frustration of many Muslims in the face of
pressures coming from a secularized outside world, some have sought to
reject the negative aspects of Western thought and culture and to return to
an Islamic society based completely on the application of the Shari 'ah.
Today in every Muslim country there are strong movements to preserve and
propagate Islamic teachings. In countries such as Saudi Arabia Islamic Law
is already being applied and in fact is the reason for the prosperity,
development and stability of the country. In other countries where Islamic
Law is not being applied, however, most of the effort of Islamic movements
is spent in making possible the full application of the Shari'ah so that the
nation can enjoy prosperity along with the fulfillment of the faith of its
people. In any case the widespread desire for Muslims to have the religious
law of Islam applied and to reassert their religious values and their own
identity must not be equated with exceptional violent eruptions which do
exist but which are usually treated sensationally and taken out of
proportion by the mass media in the West.
Education and Science in the Islamic World
In seeking to live successfully in the modern world, in independence and
according to Islamic principles, Muslim countries have been emphasizing a
great deal the significance of the role of education and the importance of
mastering Western science and technology. Already in the 19th century,
certain Muslim countries such as Egypt, Ottoman Turkey and Persia
established institutions of higher learning where the modem sciences and
especially medicine were taught. During this century educational
institutions at all levels have proliferated throughout the Islamic world.
Nearly every science ranging from mathematics to biology as well as various
fields of modern technology are taught in these institutions and some
notable scientists have been produced by the Islamic world, men and women
who have often combined education in these institutions with training in the
West.
In various parts of the Islamic world there is, however, a sense that
educational institutions must be expanded and also have their standards
improved to the level of the best institutions in the world in various
fields of leaming especially science and technology. At the same time there
is an awareness that the educational system must be based totally on Islamic
principles and the influence of alien cultural and ethical values and norms,
to the extent that they are negative, be diminished. To remedy this problem
a number of international Islamic educational conferences have been held,
the first one in Makkah in 1977, and the foremost thinkers of the Islamic
world have been brought together to study and ponder over the question of
the relation between Islam and modern science. This is an ongoing process
which is at the center of attention in many parts of the Islamic world and
which indicates the significance of educational questions in the Islamic
world today.
Influence of Islamic Science and Learning Upon the West
The oldest university in the world which is still functioning is the
eleven hundred-year-old Islamic university of Fez, Morocco, known as the
Qarawiyyin. This old tradition of Islamic learning influenced the West
greatly through Spain. In this land where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived
for the most part peacefully for many centuries, translations began to be
made in the 11th century mostly in Toledo of Islamic works into Latin often
through the intermediary of Jewish scholars most of whom knew Arabic and
often wrote in Arabic. As a result of these translations, Islamic thought
and through it much of Greek thought became known to the West and Western
schools of learning began to flourish. Even the Islamic educational system
was emulated in Europe and to this day the term chair in a university
reflects the Arabic kursi (literally seat) upon which a teacher would sit to
teach his students in the madrasah (school of higher learning). As European
civillization grew and reached the high Middle Ages, there was hardly a
field of learning or form of art, whether it was literature or architecture,
where there was not some influence of Islam present. Islamic learning became
in this way part and parcel of Western civilization even if with the advent
of the Renaissance, the West not only turned against its own medieval past
but also sought to forget the long relation it had had with the Islamic
world, one which was based on intellectual respect despite religious
opposition.
Conclusion
The Islamic world remains today a vast land stretching from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, with an important presence in Europe and America, animated
by the teachings of Islam and seeking to assert its own identity. Despite
the presence of nationalism and various secular ideologies in their midst,
Muslims wish to live in the modern world but without simply imitating
blindly the ways followed by the West. The Islamic world wishes to live at
peace with the West as well as the East but at the same time not to be
dominated by them. It wishes to devote its resources and energies to
building a better life for its people on the basis of the teachings of Islam
and not to squander its resources in either internal or external conflicts.
It seeks finally to create better understanding with the West and to be
better understood by the West. The destinies of the Islamic world and the
West cannot be totally separated and therefore it is only in understanding
each other better that they can serve their own people more successfully and
also contribute to a better life for the whole of humanity.
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