Transcript The Islamic World

Caliphate
An Islamic state led by a supreme religious as well as
political leader known as a caliph.
Ummah
Arabic word meaning ‘nation’ or ‘community.’ A
supranational (multinational) community with a
common history.
Sharia
The moral code and religious law of Islam. Sometimes
considered the infallible law of God.
Fiqh
Islamic jurisprudence. Deals with the observance of
rituals, morals, and social legislation in Islam. It is the
human interpretation of the laws.
Dhimmī
Historical term referring to non-Muslim citizens of an
Islamic state.
Shahada
The profession of faith by which the Muslim
acknowledges his allegiance to God and His prophet.
Salat
Prayer – A basic duty performed both individually and
publically.
Zakat
Shahadah:
“There is no god but God, Muhammad is
the messenger of God.”
‫وُ ُ هللا‬
ُ ‫اَل ِإ ٰلها ِإ اَل هللا ُم اح ام ٌدر اس‬
Obligatory Charity – Personal property must be
‘purified’ by payment of one’s dues to the community,
for the upkeep of its weaker members.
Sawm
The annual fast of Ramadan – All food, drink, and
sexual activity are forbidden between dawn and dusk.
Hajj
Pilgrimage required by every able-bodied Muslim. It
must be performed at least once in his or her lifetime.
Religious & Secular Divisions
Sharia Law – Islam developed a system of religious
law more or less independently of the political sphere.
Failed Islamic Political Vision
The caliphate failed to realize the Islamic vision of a
politically unified ummah extending throughout the
known world.
Politics were placed outside of religion’s influence.
Distinct Political and Religious
Institutions
Society functions more or less independently of the
state.
Nature of Religion
Religions are bound to the social, spiritual, and cultural
milieux in which they arose and in which they
developed.
Muhammad’s Message
Quran 42:13: Muhammad attempted to reform existing
religious beliefs and cultural practices of pre-Islamic
Arabia so as to bring the God of the Jews and
Christians to the Arab peoples.
Quran 42:13
“He has ordained for you of religion what
He enjoined upon Noah and which We
have revealed to you…and what We
enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and
Jesus – to establish the religion and not
be divided therein…”
The Prophet’s Successors
It has often become the responsibility of the Prophet’s
successors to fashion the Prophet’s words and deeds
into a unified, easily comprehensible religious system.
The Islamic Movement
The origins of the Islamic movement are linked to the
multi-ethnic, multi-religious society in which
Muhammad grew up.
Origins
The Muslim community was born in Medina (Yathrib).
It was here where Muhammad’s Arab social reform
transformed into a universal religious ideology.
“Medinan Ideal”
 18th/19th C.:
Islamic revivalist movements sought to return to
the original values of Muhammad’s
unadulterated community as a means to wrest
Muslim lands from colonial rule.
 20th C.:
The memory of Medina during the demise of
colonialism launched the Islamic state.
Contemporary Medina
 Archetype for Islamic democracy
 Impetus for Islamic militancy
Death of Muhammad
Continued Expansion
At the time of Muhammad’s death in 632 C.E.,
the Middle East was divided between the
Byzantine and Sasanian Empires.
100 years after Muhammad’s death, the
empire secured most of northwest India, all of
North Africa, and reduced the Byzantine
Empire into a regional power.
An Islamic Empire
50 years after Muhammad’s death, the Islamic
ummah spread out of the Arabian Peninsula
and engulfed the Sasanian Empire of Iran.
World’s Largest Empire
Muhammad’s community of Arab followers
swelled into the largest empire in the world…
Early Revelations
The Quran was never collected in a single volume
during Muhammad’s lifetime. Individual recitations
from Muhammad were memorized by the Qurra and
only the most important recitations were ever written
down.
Death of Muhammad
After the Prophet’s death, the Qurra dispersed
throughout the as authorized teachers of the Quran.
Quran 15:9
“Indeed, it is We who send down the
Qur’an and indeed, We will be its
guardian.”
Growing Discrepancies
Due to the rapid growth of the ummah in additon to the
passing of the first generation of Qurra, deviations
began to appear in various recitations.
The Quran
The Medinan established became increasingly
alarmed at the discrepancies and set out to create the
single, codified, uniformed text known as the Quran.
8th and 9th centuries
Muslim armies that spread out of the Arabian
Peninsula quickly dominated the existing tensions
between the Byzantines and Sasanians who were in a
permanent state of territorial expansion.
Conversion
Conversion to Islam was neither forced nor
encouraged by the Muslim conquerors.
Advantages to Converting
In the Near East:
Territorial expansion was identical to
religious proselytization.
There existed financial and social advantages of being
an Arab Muslim in that Islam became an élite clique.
Religion as Citizenship
During this era, religion and the state were one unified
entity. Religion was tied to your ethnicity, your culture,
and your social identity while also defining your
politics, your economics, and your ethics.
Rapid Expansion
Sphere of Influence
As Islam expanded so rapidly and into
impregnable Sasanian and Byzantine
empires, most Muslims believed that this was
proof of God’s divine favor.
Under the Umayyad (and later the Abbasid)
caliphate, easy travel throughout western
Eurasia enabled merchants and scholars to
spread goods and knowledge both through
the caliphate and to less advanced regions on
the periphery.
Adaptation
Encountering foreign peoples and
governments, Muslims were forced to
reexamine ideals that governed the political
structure of the community.
Divisions
As the religion grew out of the Arabian
Peninsula to eventually become the secondlargest belief-system in the world, aspects
were adapted to fit in with various regions’
social and cultural milieux. This is most
proximately seen today in the divisions of:
 Sunni
 Shi’a
Concentration
Muslim countries are concentrated at the
point of Islam’s origin: the Middle East as
well as in North Africa and the Far East
regions.
Similarities to Neighbors
Muslim countries are more often than not
neighbors. This is seen in the idea of Dar alIslam (House of Islam), countries where
Muslims are able to enjoy peace and
security.
 All Dar al-Islam countries share
common borders with other Muslim
countries.
Aslan, R. (2005). No
god but God: The origins,
evolution, and future of Islam. New York,
NY: Random House.
Riddell, P.G., & Cotterell, P. (2003). Islam
in context:
Past, present, and future. Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic.
Ruthven, M. (2000). Islam in the world (2nd ed.).
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.