History of Islam

Muslim history began in Arabia with Muhammad's first recitations of the Qur'an in the 7th century. Islam's historical development has affected political, economic, and military trends both inside and outside the Islamic world. As with Christendom, the concept of an Islamic world is useful in looking at different periods of human history; similarly useful is an understanding of the identification with a quasi-political community of believers, or ummah, on the part of Islam's practitioners down the centuries.

Background

Within a century of Muhammad's first recitations of the Qur'an, an Islamic state stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Central Asia in the east. This new polity soon broke into a civil war known to Islamic historians as the Fitna, and later affected by a Second Fitna. Through its history, there would be rival dynasties claiming the caliphate, or leadership of the Muslim world, and many Islamic states and empires offered only token obedience to a caliph unable to unify the Islamic world.

The subsequent empires of the Ummayyads, Abbasids, the Mughals, and the Seljuk Turk, Safavid Persia and Ottomans were among the largest and most powerful in the world. People in the Islamic world made many centers of culture and science and produced notable scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, doctors and philosophers during the Golden Age of Islam. Technology flourished; there was much investment in economic infrastructure, such as irrigation systems and canals; stress on the importance of reading the Qur'an produced a comparatively high level of literacy in the general populace.

In the 18th and 19th centuries A.D., Islamic regions fell under the sway of European imperial powers. Following World War I, the remnants of the Ottoman empire were parcelled out as European protectorates. Since then, no major widely-accepted claim to the caliphate (which had been last claimed by the Ottomans) remained.

Although affected by various ideologies, such as communism, during much of the twentieth century, Islamic identity and Islam's salience on political questions have arguably increased during the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. Rapid growth, western interests in Islamic regions, international conflicts and globalization influenced Islam's importance in shaping the world of the twenty-first century.

Note on early Islamic historiography

There are several Muslim versions of early Islamic history as written by the Sunni, Shi'a, and Ibadi sects. Nineteenth century Western scholars tended to privilege the Sunni versions; the Sunni are the largest sect, and their books and scholars were easily available. Over the last hundred years, Western scholars have become much more willing to question the orthodox view and to advance new theories and new narratives.

Muhammad

Arabia before Muhammad was scantily populated by various Arabic-speaking people. Some were Bedouin, pastoral nomads organized in tribes. Some were agriculturalists, living either in oases in the north, or in the more fertile and thickly settled areas to the south (now Yemen and Oman). At that time the majority of Arabs followed polytheistic religions, although a few tribes followed Judaism, Christianity (including Nestorians) or Zoroastrianism. The city Mecca was a religious center for some of the northern Arabian polytheists, as it contained the sacred well of Zamzam and a small temple, the Ka'aba.

Muhammad was born on the outskirts of Mecca in the Year of the Elephant. Most Muslims equate this with the Gregorian year 570 but a few prefer 571. He was orphaned at an early age and was raised by his uncle Abu Talib. He became a merchant, married a wealthy widow and could have looked forward to a life of ease and prosperity.

However, when he was some forty years old, he received a divine revelation while he was meditating in a cave outside Mecca. This would have been in 610 A.D. After an initial period of doubt and fear, he started to preach to his kinfolk and then in public, to all Meccans.

Muhammad claimed that he had been chosen by God, like the Hebrew prophets (Moses, Elijah, etc.) before him, to preach the absolute oneness of God, repentance, submission to God, and a coming day of judgment. He said he was not preaching a new religion, just reviving the old and pure tradition which the Christians and Jews had debased.

In 615 a band of Muslims were counseled by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia, which was ruled by a pious Christian king. In 622 C.E., Muhammad and many of his followers fled to the neighboring city of Yathrib, which later became known as Medina. This migration is called the Hijra; it was the first year of Muhammad's reign as a political as well as a religious leader. Following the custom of the time, later historians took that year as the start of the Muslim calendar.

The two cities of Mecca and Medina went to war. Muhammad and his followers won one battle (Battle of Badr) and managed to stalemate a Meccan attack in the Battle of the Trench. Through conquest and conversion, Muhammad was able to unite the surrounding tribes behind him and eventually assembled such a large force that Mecca capitulated without a fight. By the time Muhammad died, on June 8, 632, he and his followers had united the entire Arabian peninsula under Islam, and had started to expand into the areas now known as Syria and Iraq.

Al-Rashidun - The Four "Rightly-Guided" Caliphs

After Muhammad died, a series of Caliphs governed the Islamic State: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. These first Caliphs are popularly known as the "Rashidun" or "rightly-guided" Caliphs.

The Rashidun made significant conquests, and brought large areas under the fold of Islam.

Abu Bakr's short reign (632-34) was occupied by the Ridda wars - rebellions of Bedouin Arabs. During Umar's rule, Muslim armies invaded Palestine and Mesopotamia. At the Battle of Yarmuk (636), Muslim armies won a crushing victory over the Byzantines, thus paving the way for the conquest of Egypt and Syria. After a decisive victory over the Sassanid empire at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in 637, Muslims overwhelmed the Persians in Mesopotamia. Five years later, after the Battle of Nihawānd, Persia was effectively included in the expanding Islamic empire.^[1]

The First Fitna

Umar was succeeded by Uthman Ibn Affan, another of Muhammad's earliest followers. Under Uthman, the new empire fell into a civil war called the Fitna, or disorder. Some of Muhammad's family and earliest followers were unhappy with Uthman, feeling that he was unduly favoring his kinsfolk and acting less like a religious leader and more like a king. Tribesmen, angry that Uthman was favouring his relatives over the tribes that had actually conquered the land, laid siege to Uthman's house before storming it and killing him as he read the Qu'ran. After the killing of Uthman the people elected Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, through a process known as shura. A group of Muslims refused to accept Ali as their leader, demanding that Uthman's killers be brought to account and seeing Ali's lack of action during the siege as making him complicit in Uthman's murder. Two Companions of the prophet - Talha and Al-Zubayr - along with the Prophet's wife Aisha, raised an army to hold Ali to account. Their demands rested on the Qur'anic statement that rebels must be punished. At the Battle of the Camel, Ali defeated their forces and sent Aisha back to Medina on a pension. He spent the rest of his brief caliphate fighting against Uthman's relatives, the Umayyads who through their powerbase in Syria had never recognised Ali as the Caliph. The Umayyad army led by the govenor of Syria, Muawiyah attacked Ali's forces but when on the verge of defeat Muawiyah's general Amr Ibn-Alas suggested calling for arbitration. Amr Ibn-Alas represented the Umayyad side while Ali, confident in the strength of his own position, chose a neutral agent. The arbitration went badly for Ali, who lost at the negotiation table and simultaneously alienated his own troops by slaughtering the pious Khajarites (who had abandoned his army) and ignoring the arbiters' conclusions. Ali was killed by a Khariji assassin and the Umayyads claimed the Caliphate. They managed to retain leadership of the majority of Muslims for several generations, but save for a brief period, never again ruled over an undivided Islamic empire. The Islamic faith diverged as well, splitting into the two main sects of today (Sunni and Shi'a).

Early Caliphate

After the Rashidun, a series of Caliphates were established. Each caliphate was a monarchy, developed its own unique laws and adopted a particular sect of Islam as a State religion. Until the ninth century the Muslim World would remain a single political entity under the leadership of one Caliph. The early Caliphate is also known as the Arab Empire or Islamic Empire.

Umayyads

Ali was succeeded by Muawiya I, who became the first Ummayad caliph. The capital moved to Damascus,^[2] and an elected caliph was replaced by a hereditary Sultan.

Under the Ummayads, the Muslim world expanded into North Africa and Iberia in the West, and Central Asia in the East. According to Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair,

By the early eighth century, the Islamic empire stretched from North Africa on the west to Transoxiana and Sind (modern-day Pakistan) in the east, nearly one quarter the way around the globe, an area that made the empires of the Persians, Alexander the Great, and the Romans seem puny...The Muslims, no longer Arab merchants from the heartland of Arabia, became masters of the economic and cultural heartland of the Near East, and their faith, Islam, was no longer as obscure Arabian cult but the religion of an imperial elite.^[3]

Much of the population of this new empire was non-Muslim, and aside from a protection tax (jizya) and other restrictions, the conquered people found their religions tolerated. Indeed, Muslim authorities often discouraged conversions. Under the Umayyads, would-be converts had to find an Arab patron who would adopt them into his tribe. Once they were honorary Arabs they could convert. The history of this era and others that followed are cited as examples of how Islamization did not typically occur through violence or coercion.

Nevertheless, most of the population eventually converted to Islam. Whether Islamization was a fast or a slow movement is a topic hotly debated in academia, and only to be settled by meticulous country-by-country studies. Ummayad conversion policies, however, did create tensions in the empire as greater numbers of non-Arabs (mostly Persians) converted. The tensions increased when Shiites joined the protest against Ummayad rule.^[4]

Umayyad rule was interrupted by a second civil war (the Second Fitna) in the early 680s, re-established, then ended in 750.

Abbasids

The Abbasids overthrew the increasingly unpopular Ummayads and took over the caliphate. They moved the capital to Baghdad (closer to Persia), and made Persian the second commonly-used language (after Arabic) of the empire. During this time Baghdad became one of the greatest cultural centers of the world. The Abbasids were said to be descendents of Abbas the uncle of the Prophet claiming that they were the 'messiha' or saviours of the people under the Ummayad rule. Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid and Al-Mamun were great patrons of arts and sciences, and enabled these domains to flourish. Islamic philosophy also developed as the Shariah was codified, and the four Madhabs were established. This era also saw the rise of classical Sufism. The greatest achievement, however, was completion of the canonical collections of Hadith of Sahih Bukhari and others.^[5] However, in 1258, the Mongols were able to sack Baghdad, leaving the dynasty with only symbolic rule in Egypt. After this, there would be rival dynasties claiming the caliphate, or leadership of the Muslim world, and many Islamic states and empires offered only token obedience to a caliph unable to unify the Islamic world.

Regional powers

The Abbasids soon became caught within a three-way rivalry of Arabs, Persians and the immigrant Turks.^[6] In addition, the cost of running a large empire became too great.^[7] The political unity of Islam began to disintegrate. The Emirates, still recognizing the theoretical leadership of the caliphs, drifted into independence, and a brief revival of control was ended with the establishment of rival caliphates. Eventually the Abbasids ruled as puppets for the Buwayhid emirs. During this time, great advancements were made in the areas of astronomy, poetry, philosophy science and mathematics.

Spain & the Umayyads

The Arabs first began their conquest of southern Spain or al-Andalus in 710 and created a province under the Caliphate which extended as far as the north of the peninsula.^[8] After the Abbasids came to power, some Ummayads fled to Muslim Spain and established themselves in Cordoba. By the end of the 10th century, the ruler Abd al-Rahman III (912-61) took over the title of caliph, and established with it a caliphate parallel to the one in Baghdad. A large number of Berbers from Morocco migrated to Andalus, but also large numbers of Jews and Christians lived alongside Muslims.

"Toleration, a common language and a long tradition of separate rule all helped to create a distinctive Andalusian consciousness and society. Its Islamic religious culture developed on rather different lines from those of the eastern countries."^[9]

During the 11th century, the Umayyad kingdom of al-Andalus broke down into small kingdoms, which in the end built the preconditions for the Christian reconquest.^[10] The latter re-established Christian rule more and more southwards, ending all Muslim rule in 1492 with the reconquest of the kingdom of Granada.^[11]

The Fatimids

The Fatimids,(Fatimid Caliphate),who are believed to be the descendants of Fatima, is the Shi'a Ismaili dynasty that ruled from 5 January 910 to 1171. The ruling elite of the state belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism. The leaders of the dynasty were also Shia Ismaili Imams, hence, they had a religious significance to Ismaili Muslims.

The Fatimids established sovereignty over Egypt, North Africa, Sicily and Syria. Under the Fatimids, the city of Cairo was established and built into an imperial military and cultural center.

The Fatimid territories of Syria and Palestine fell to the invading Seljuks in the late eleventh century. They would, however, continue to rule in Egypt until its conquest by Saladin in the late twelfth century.

The Seljuks

A series of new invasions swept over the Islamic world. The newly converted Seljuk Turks swept across and conquered most of Islamic Asia, Syria and Palestine. The Seljuks made religion an instrument of the state, while giving the clergy significant say over the affairs of the government. They also put an end to Caliphal institutions. These policies would be carried out by successive governments of Nur al-Din, Saladin and Mamluks.

Shortly after, they won a decisive victory over the Eastern Romans, or Byzantines, at the Battle of Manzikert, paving the way for further conquest of Christian Roman Anatolia.

The Crusaders

Beginning in the 8th century the Christian kingdoms of Spain had begun the Reconquista aimed at retaking Al-Andalus from the Moors. In 1095, Pope Urban II, inspired by the perceived holy wars in Spain and implored by the eastern Roman emperor to help defend Christianity in the East, called for the First Crusade from Western Europe which captured Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem. The Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem emerged and for a time controlled many holy sites of Islam. Saladin, however, restored unity, defeated the Fatimids and put an end to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187. Other crusades were launched with at least the nominal intent to recapture the holy city and other holy lands, but hardly more was ever accomplished than the errant looting and occupation of Christian Constantinople, leaving the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire severely weakened and ripe for later conquest. However, the crusaders did manage to weaken Muslim territories preventing them from further expansion into Chrisendom.

The Mamluks

In 1250, the short-lived Ayyubid dynasty (established by Saladin) was overthrown by slave regiments, and a new dynasty - the Mamluks - was born. The Mamluks soon expanded into Palestine, expelled the remaining Crusader states and repelled the Mongols from invading Syria. Thus they united Syria and Egypt for the longest period of time between the Abbasid and Ottoman empires (1250-1517).^[12]

Islam in Africa

The first continent outside of Arabia to have an Islamic history was Africa beginning with the hijirah to Ethiopia. Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion; in 615, when a band of Muslims were counseled by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia, which was ruled by, in the Prophet Muhammad's estimation, a pious Christian king. Moreover, Islamic tradition states that Bilal, one of the foremost companions of the Prophet Muhammad, was from Ethiopia.

Islam in Maghreb

The Maghreb meaning "place of set" or "western" in Arabic, is the region of Africa north of the Sahara Desert and west of the Nile — specifically, coinciding with the Atlas Mountains. Geopolitically, the area includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, Western Sahara, and sometimes Mauritania, which is often placed in West Africa instead. This part of Islamic territory has independent governments during most part of history of Islam. There were some great governments.

Idrisid dynasty The Idrisids were the first Arab dynasty in the western Maghreb, ruling from 788 to 985. The dynasty is named after its first sultan Idris I.

Almoravid dynasty was a Berber dynasty from the Sahara that flourished over a wide area of North-Western Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the 11th century. Under this dynasty the Moorish empire was extended over present-day Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gibraltar, Tlemcen (in Algeria) and a great part of what is now Senegal and Mali in the south, and Spain and Portugal in the north.

Almohad Dynasty or "the Unitarians," were a Berber Muslim religious power which founded the fifth Moorish dynasty in the 12th century, and conquered all northern Africa as far as Egypt, together with Al-Andalus.

Islam in East Africa

There were Islamic government in Tanzania.

Islam in West Africa

Usman dan Fodio after the Fulani War, found himself in command of the largest state in Africa, the Fulani Empire. Dan Fodio worked to establish an efficient government, one grounded in Islamic law. Already aged at the beginning of the war, dan Fodio retired in 1815 passing the title of Sultan of Sokoto to his son Muhammed Bello.

Islam in Asia

Indian Subcontinent

See also: Islam in India, Islam in Pakistan

Islamic rule came to the region in the 8th century, when Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh, (Pakistan). Muslim conquests were expanded under Mahmud and the Ghaznavids until the late twelfth century, when the Ghurids overran the Ghaznavids and extended the conquests in northern India. Qutb-ud-din Aybak, conquered Delhi in 1206 and began the reign of the Delhi Sultanates.

In the fourteenth century, Alauddin Khilji extended Muslim rule south to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Deccan. Various other Muslim dynasties also formed and ruled across India from the 13th to the 18th century such as the Qutb Shahi and the Bahmani, but none rivalled the power and extensive reach of the Mughal Empire at its peak.

China

During the lifetime of Muhammad, Arab merchants reached China via the Silk Road and introduced Islam. Then, in 650, the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, sent an official delegation to the Tang dynasty. The Chinese emperor ordered the establishment of the first Chinese mosque in the city of Chang'an, and this event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. By the early ninth century Islam had reached as far south as Hangzhou.

The Mongol invasions of China and Persia, brought the two regions under a single political entity. This led to increased contacts and cultural exchange between China and the Muslim world. Following the Mongols, the succeeding Ming dynasty was also tolerant of Muslims. During its reign, many Muslim attained high posts. These policies were, however, reversed by the Qing dynasty, when it came to power.^[13]

Southeast Asia

See also: The spread of Islam in Indonesia (1200 to 1600)

In the late 13th century, Muslim merchants and missionaries began to bring Islam to Southeast Asia. Soon, many Sufi missionaries translated classical Sufi literature from Arabic and Persian into Malay. Coupled with the composing of original Islamic literature in Malay, this led the way to the transformation of Malay into an Islamic language.^[14] By 1292, when Marco Polo visited Sumatra, most of the inhabitants had converted to Islam. The Sultanate of Malacca was founded by Parameswara, a Srivijayan Prince in the Malay peninsula. Through trade and commerce, Islam spread to Borneo and Java, Indonesia. By late 15th century, Islam had been introduced to the Philippines.

As Islam spread, three main Muslim political powers emerged. Aceh, the most important Muslim power, was based firmly in Northern Sumatra. It controlled much of the area between Southeast Asia and India. The Sultunate also attracted Sufi poets. The second Muslim power was the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula. The Sultanate of Demak, the third power emerged in Java, where the Muslim emerging forces defeated the local Majapahit kingdom in the early 16th century.^[15]

Mongol Invasions

By the early 13th century a very serious threat had arrived. The Mongols from the steppes of inner Asia invaded and destroyed large part of the Abbasid lands east of Egypt, conquering Baghdad in the 1258 Battle of Baghdad. This permanently ended the Abbasid caliphate and the Golden Age of Islam, leaving the Islamic world damaged and confused. The Mongol invadors could not reunite the empire under their power, but a branch of the family managed to rule the areas of Iran and Iraq for almost a hundred years (1256-1336), developing their own sophisticated and diverse trade based culture, integrating elements from every corner of Eurasia. Their expansion was stopped in Syria by an Egyptian army formed of military slaves (mamluks). This is the same army which shortly afterwards created a coup d'état and whose leadership fixed itself as a new monarchy in Egypt (Mamluks, 1250-1517).^[16]

Three Muslim empires

In the 15th century and 16th centuries three major Muslim empires were created: the aforementioned Ottoman Empire in much of the Middle East, Balkans and Northern Africa; the Safavid Empire in Greater Iran; and the Mughul Empire in Greater India. These new imperial powers were made possible by the discovery and exploitation of gunpowder, and more efficient administration.^[17] By the end of the 19th century, all three had declined significantly, and by the early 20th century, with the Ottomans' defeat in World War I, the last Muslim empire collapsed.

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a product of various Central Asian invasions into the Indian subcontinent. Founded by Babur in 1526, the empire went on to rule most of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan under his successors for several centuries, before it declined in the early 18th century, which led to India being divided into smaller kingdoms and princely states. The Mughal dynasty was eventually dissolved by the British Empire after the Indian rebellion of 1857.

The empire left a lasting legacy on Indian culture and architecture. Amongst the famous buildings built by the Mughals, include: Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens and Agra Fort. During the empire's reign of power, Muslim communities flourished all over India, particularly in Gujarat, Bengal and Hyderabad. Various Sufi orders from Afghanistan and Iran were very active throughout the region. Consequently, more than a quarter of the population converted to Islam.^[18]

Safavid Empire

The Safavids (Persian: صفویان) were an Iranian dynasty from Iranian Azarbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736, and which established Shi'a Islam as Iran's official religion and united its provinces under a single Iranian sovereignty, thereby reigniting the Persian identity.

Although claiming to be the descendants of Ali ibn Abu Talib, the Safavids were originally Sunni (the name "Safavid" comes from a Sufi order called Safavi). Their origins go back to Firuz Shah Zarrinkolah, an Iranian local dignitary from Iran's north. During their rule, the Safavids recognized Shiism as the State religion, thus giving Iran a separate identity from its Sunni neighbours.

In 1524, Tahmasp acceded to the throne, initiating reviving arts in the region. Carpet making became a major industry, gaining new importance in Iran's cities. But the finest of all artistic revivals was the commissioning of the Shahnama. The Shahnama was meant to glorify the reign of the Shah through artistic means. The two-volume copy contained 258 large paintings to illustrate the works of Firdawsi, a Persian poet. The Shah also prohibited the drinking of wine, forbade the use of hashish and ordered the removal of gambling casinos, taverns and brothels.

Tahmasp's grandson, Shah Abbas I, also managed to increase the glory of the empire. Abbas restored the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad, and restored the dynastic shrine at Ardabil. Both shrines received jewelry, fine manuscripts and Chinese porcelains. Abbas also moved the empire's capital to Isfahan, revived old ports, and established thriving trade with the Europeans. Amongst Abbas's most visible cultural achievements was the construction of Naqsh-i Jahan ("Design of the World"). The plaza, located near a Friday mosque, covered twenty acres, thus dwarfing Piazza San Marco and St. Peter's Square.^[19]

Ottoman Empire

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Wahhabism

During the 18th century, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703–1792) led a religious movement (Wahhabism) in eastern Arabia that sought to purify Islam. Wahhab wanted to return Islam to what he thought were its original principles as taught by the as-salaf as-saliheen (the earliest converts to Islam) and rejected what he regarded as corruptions introduced by bid‘ah (religious innovation) and Shirk (polytheism). He allied himself with the House of Saud, which eventually triumphed over the Rashidis to control Central Arabia, and led several revolts against the Ottoman empire. Initial success (the conquest of Mecca and Medina) was followed by ignominious defeat, then a resurgence which culminated in the creation of Saudi Arabia.

The 20th century

The modern age brought radical technological and organizational changes to Europe and Islamic countries found themselves less modern when compared to the many western nations. Europe's state-based government and rampant colonization allowed the West to dominate the globe economically and forced Islamic countries to question change.

Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Some Muslim territories, for example Syria, were granted at least nominal independence after the end of the First World War and some gained full independence after the second^{[citation needed]}. Many Muslim countries sought to imitate European political organization and nationalism began to emerge in the Muslim world. Countries like Egypt, Syria, and Turkey organized their governments with definable policies and sought to develop national pride amongst their citizens. Other places, like Iraq, were not as successful due to a lack of unity.

Some Muslim countries, such as Turkey and Egypt, sought to separate Islam from the secular government. In other cases, such as Saudi Arabia, the new government brought out new religious expression in the re-emergence of the puritanical form of Sunni Islam known to its detractors as Wahhabism which found its way into the Saudi royal family.

Partition of India and establishment of Pakistan

The partition of India refers to the creation in August 1947 of two sovereign states of India and Pakistan. The two nations were formed out of the former British Raj, including treaty states, when Britain granted independence to the area (see Undivided India). In particular, the term refers to the partition of Bengal and Punjab, the two main provinces of the would be Pakistan.

In 1947, after the partition of India, Pakistan became the largest Islamic Country in the world (by population) and the tenth largest post-WWII state in the modern world. In 1971, after a bloody war of independence the Bengal part of Pakistan became an independent state called Bangladesh.

Today, Pakistan is still the second largest Islamic country in the world. Pakistan is presently the only nuclear power of the Muslim world and is one of the more developed nations among the Muslim countries.

Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, by population. India has the third largest Muslim population, followed by the region of Bangladesh.

Arab-Israeli conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict spans about a century of political tensions and open hostilities. It involves the establishment of the modern State of Israel as a Jewish nation state, the consequent displacement of the Palestinian people, as well as the adverse relationship between the Arab nations and the state of Israel (see related Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Despite initially involving the Arab states, animosity has developed between other Muslim nations and Israel. Many countries, individuals and non-governmental organizations elsewhere in the world feel involved in this conflict for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with Islam, Arab culture, Christianity, Judaism, Jewish culture or for ideological, human rights, or strategic reasons. While some consider the Arab-Israeli conflict a part of (or a precursor to) a wider clash of civilizations between the Western World and the Arab or Muslim world,^[20]^[21] others oppose this view.^[22] Animosity emanating from this conflict has caused numerous attacks on supporters (or perceived supporters) of each side by supporters of the other side in many countries around the world.

Oil wealth and petropolitics dominate the Middle East

Between 1953 and 1964, King Saud re-organized the government of the monarchy his father, Ibn Saud, had created. Saudi Arabia's new ministries included Communication (1953) Agriculture and Water (1953), Petroleum (1960), Pilgrimage and Islamic Endowments (1960), Labour and Social Affairs (1962) and Information (1963). He also put his Talal, one of his many younger brothers (by 29 years his younger) in charge of the Ministry of Transport.

In 1958-59, Talal proposed the formation of a National Council. As he proposed it, it would have been a consultative body, not a legislature. Still, he thought of it as a first step toward broader popular participation in the government. Talal presented this proposal to the king when the Crown Prince was out of the country. Saud simply forwarded the proposal to the ulama asking them whether a National Council was a legitimate institution in Islam. The idea seems to have died in committee, so to speak. It would be revived more than three decades later. A Consultative Council came into existence in 1992.

Meantime, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries came into existence in 1960. For the first decade or more of its existence, it was ineffectual in terms of increasing revenue for member nations. But it would have its day. Tension between Faisal and Saud continued to mount until a final showdown in 1964. Saud threatened to mobilize the Royal Guard against Faisal and Faisal threatened to mobilize the National Guard against Saud. It was Saud who blinked, abdicating and leaving for Cairo, then Greece, where he would die in 1969. Faisal then became King.

The 1967 war had other effects. It effectively closed the Suez canal, it may have contributed to the revolution in Libya that put Muammar al-Qaddafi in power, and it led in May 1970 to the closure of the "tapline" from Saudi Arabia through Syria to Lebanon. These developments had the effect of increasing the importance of the petroleum in Libya, which is a conveniently short (and canal-free) shipping distance from Europe.

In 1970, it was Occidental Petroleum which constituted the first crack in the wall of oil company solidarity in dealing with the oil producing nations; specifically, in this case, with the demands for price increases of the new Qaddafi government.

In October 1973, another war between Israel and its Muslim neighbors, known as the Yom Kippur War, got underway just as oil company executives were heading to Vienna, Austria, site of a planned meeting with OPEC leaders. OPEC had been emboldened by the success of Libya's demands anyway, and the war strengthened the unity of their new demands.

The Arab defeats in the Six Day and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars triggered the 1973 oil crisis. In response to the emergency re-supply effort by the West that enabled Israel to defeat Egyptian and Syrian forces, the Arab world imposed the 1973 oil embargo against the United States and Western Europe. Faisal agreed that Saudi Arabia would use some of its oil wealth to finance the "front-line states," those that bordered Israel, in their struggle.

The centrality of petroleum, the Arab-Israeli Conflict and political and economic instability and uncertainty remain constant features of the politics of the region.

Two Iranian revolutions

File:IranianRevolution1.jpg

Protestors take to the street in support of Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution marked the beginning of the end of Iran's feudalistic society and led to the establishment of a parliament in Persia and restriction of the power of Shah (king). The first constitution of Iran was approved. But after the final victory of revolutionaries over Shah, the modernist and conservative blocks began to fight with each other. Then World War I took place and all of the combatants invaded Iran and weakened the government and threated the independence of Iran. Finally the system of constitutional monarchy created by the decree of Mozzafar-al-Din Shah that was established in Persia as a result of the Revolution ultimately came to an end in 1925 with the dissolution of the Qajar dynasty and the accenssion of Reza Shah Pahlavi to the throne.

In 1979 the Iranian Revolution (also called "The Islamic Revolution" ) transformed Iran from a constitutional monarchy, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to a populist theocratic Islamic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shi`i Muslim cleric and marja. Following the Revolution, an Iranian referendum established the Islamic republic as a new government, and a new constitution was approved, electing Ruhollah Khomeini Supreme Leader of Iran. During the following two years, liberals, leftists, and Islamic groups fought with each other, and ultimately Islamics captured power. At the same time, the U.S., USSR, and most of the Arab governments of the Middle East feared that their dominance in the region was challenged by the new Islamic ideology, so they encouraged and supported Saddam Hussein to invade Iran, which resulted in the Iran-Iraq war.

The 21st century

Islamism

See Islamist terrorism and militant Islam

European Islam

Main article: European Islam.

Certain academics, such as Jorgen Nielsen (Towards a European Islam, London: Macmillan Press, 1999), suggest that there is currently emerging a new brand of Islam in Europe, which is often termed European Islam. While this new kind of Islam is not exactly defined, it could be described as combining on the one hand the religion's basic duties and on the other European culture, values and traditions (such as secularism, democracy, gender equality as perceived by the west, the European system of law, etc.).

See also: Islam in Europe, Muslims in Western Europe.

Chronology

Dynasties of Muslim Rulers

Al-Andalus

Africa

Arabian Peninsula

Anatolia

Egypt

India

Maghreb

Persia and Central Asia

Southeast Asia

Notes

^ Hart (1978), p. 274
^ The Capital used to be Medina under the Rashidun, but during the First Fitna, Ali ibn Abi Talib had shifted to his support base at Kufa
^ Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 50
^ Nasr (2003), p.119
^ Nasr (2003), p.121
^ Nasr (2003), p. 121-122
^ Lapidus (1988), p.129
^ Hourani, pg.41
^ Hourani, pg.43
^ Hourani, pg.85
^ Hourani, pg.86
^ Hourani, pg.85
^ Nasr (2003), p. 147
^ Nasr (2003), p. 143
^ Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 226-230
^ Hourani, pg.85
^ Armstrong (2000) p. 116
^ Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 211-219
^ Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 199-204
^ Causes of Anti-Americanism in the Arab World: A Socio-Political Perspective by Abdel Mahdi Abdallah (MERIA Journal. Volume 7, No. 4 - December 2003
^ Arab-Israeli Conflict: Role of religion (Israel Science and Technology)
^ Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

References and further reading

Armstrong, Karen (2000). Islam:A Short History.
Bloom and Blair (2000). Islam:A Thousand Years of Faith and Power.
Hart, Michael (1978). The 100:Ranking of the most influential persons in history. New York: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8065-1057-9.
Lapidus, Ira M. (1988). A History of Islamic societes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22552-3.
Lewis, B. (1993). The Arabs in History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-285258-2.
Rahman, F. (1982). Islam & Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-70284-7.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2003). Islam:Religion, History and Civilization. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-050714-4.
Sonn, Tamara (2004). A Brief History of Islam. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-4051-0900-9.
Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples, Faber & Faber, 2002, ISBN 0-571-21591-2

External links

Template:Link FA

[1] Hart (1978), p. 274

[2] The Capital used to be Medina under the Rashidun, but during the First Fitna, Ali ibn Abi Talib had shifted to his support base at Kufa

[3] Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 50

[4] Nasr (2003), p.119

[5] Nasr (2003), p.121

[6] Nasr (2003), p. 121-122

[7] Lapidus (1988), p.129

[Hourani_1-8] Hourani, pg.41

[Hourani_2-9] Hourani, pg.43

[Hourani_4-10] Hourani, pg.85

[Hourani_5-11] Hourani, pg.86

[Hourani-12] Hourani, pg.85

[13] Nasr (2003), p. 147

[14] Nasr (2003), p. 143

[15] Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 226-230

[Hourani_10-16] Hourani, pg.85

[17] Armstrong (2000) p. 116

[18] Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 211-219

[19] Bloom and Blair (2000), p. 199-204

[20] Causes of Anti-Americanism in the Arab World: A Socio-Political Perspective by Abdel Mahdi Abdallah (MERIA Journal. Volume 7, No. 4 - December 2003

[21] Arab-Israeli Conflict: Role of religion (Israel Science and Technology)

[22] Arab-American Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

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