"Understanding of Islamic Religion"
Part II
New dynasties and colonialism (1030–1918)
The Seljuk Turks conquered Abbassid lands, adopted Islam and become the de facto rulers of the caliphate. They captured Anatolia by defeating the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, thereby precipitating the call for Crusades. They fell apart in the second half of the 12th century giving rise to various semi-autonomous Islamic dynasties such as the powerful Ayyubids who conquered Egypt and a Jerusalem in the name of Islam.
In the 13th and 14th centuries the Ottoman Empire (named after Osman I) emerged from among these "Ghazi emirates" and established itself after a string of conquests that included the Balkans, parts of Greece, and western Anatolia. In 1453 under Mehmed II the Ottomans laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, which succumbed shortly thereafter, having been overwhelmed by a far greater number of Ottoman troops and to a lesser extent, cannonry.[111]
Beginning in the 13th century, Sufism underwent a transformation, largely as a result of the efforts of al-Ghazzali to legitimize and reorganize the movement. He developed the model of the Sufi order—a community of spiritual teachers and students.[112] Also of importance to Sufism was the creation of the Masnavi, a collection of mystical poetry by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. The Masnavi had a profound influence on the development of Sufi religious thought; to many Sufis it is second in importance only to the Qur'an.[113]
From the 14th century to the 16th century much of the eastern Islamic world was experiencing another golden age under the Timurid dynasty. In the early 16th century, the Safavid dynasty assumed control in Persia and established Shi'a Islam as an official religion there, and despite periodic setbacks, the Safavids remained in power for two centuries until being usurped by the Hotaki dynasty in the early-18th century. Meanwhile, Mamluk Egypt fell to the Ottomans in 1517, who then launched a European campaign which reached as far as the gates of Vienna in 1529.[114]
After the invasion of Persia and sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in the mid 13th century, Delhi became the most important cultural centre of the Muslim east.[115] Many Islamic dynasties ruled parts of the Indian subcontinent starting with the Ghaznavids in the 10th century. The prominent ones included the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857). These empires helped in the spread of Islam in South Asia, but by the early-18th century the Hindu Maratha Empire was becoming the pre-eminent power in northern India until they were weaken by the Durrani Empire in the mid-18th century.
Around the 18th century, despite attempts at modernization, the Ottoman empire had begun to feel threatened by European economic and military advantages. It was during the 18th century that the Wahhabi movement took hold in Saudi Arabia. Founded by the preacher Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Wahhabism is a fundamentalist ideology that condemns practices like Sufism and the veneration of saints as un-Islamic.[116]
By the 19th century the British Empire had formally ended the last Mughal dynasty,[117] and overthrew the Muslim-ruled Kingdom of Mysore. In the 19th century, the rise of nationalism resulted in Greece declaring and winning independence in 1829, with several Balkan states following suit after the Ottomans suffered defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The Ottoman era came to a close at the end of World War I and the Caliphate was abolished in 1924.[118][119]
In the 19th century, the Salafi, Deobandi and Barelwi movements were initiated.
Modern times (1918–present)
By the early years of the 20th century, most of the Muslim world outside the Ottoman empire had been absorbed into the empires of non-Islamic European powers. After World War I losses, nearly all of the Ottoman empire was also parceled out as European protectorates or spheres of influence. In the course of the 20th century, most of these European-ruled territories became independent, and new issues such as oil wealth and relations with the State of Israel have assumed prominence.[120]
During this time, many Muslims migrated, as indentured servants, from mostly India and Indonesia to the Caribbean, forming the largest Muslim populations by percentage in the Americas.[121] Additionally, the resulting urbanization and increase in trade in Africa brought Muslims to settle in new areas and spread their faith. As a result, Islam in sub-Saharan Africa likely doubled between 1869 and 1914.[122] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), consisting of Muslim countries, was formally established in September 1969 after the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.[123]
Islamic revival and Islamist movements
The 20th century saw the Islamic world increasingly exposed to outside cultural influences, bringing potential changes to Muslim societies. In response, new Islamic "revivalist" movements were initiated as a counter movement to non-Islamic ideas. Groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt advocate a totalistic and theocratic alternative to secular political ideologies. Sometimes called Islamist, they see Western cultural values as a threat, and promote Islam as a comprehensive solution to every public and private question of importance.
In countries like Iran revolutionary movement replaced secular regime with an Islamic state, while transnational groups like Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda engage in terrorism to further their goals. In contrast, Liberal Islam is a movement that attempts to reconcile religious tradition with modern norms of secular governance and human rights. Its supporters say that there are multiple ways to read Islam's sacred texts, and stress the need to leave room for "independent thought on religious matters".[124]
Modern criticism of Islam includes accusations that Islam is intolerant of criticism and that Islamic law is too hard on apostates from Islam. Critics like Ibn Warraq question the morality of the Qu'ran, saying that its contents justify the mistreatment of women and encourage antisemitic remarks by Muslim theologians.[125] Such claims have been challenged by many Muslim scholars and writers including Fazlur Rahman Malik,[126] Syed Ameer Ali,[127] Ahmed Deedat,[128] Yusuf Estes,[129] as well as Zakir Naik and others of Peace TV, which is a global Islamic satellite channel intended to correct the misconceptions about Islam.
Others like Daniel Pipes and Martin Kramer focus more on criticizing the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, a danger they feel has been ignored.[130] Montgomery Watt and Norman Daniel dismiss many of the criticisms as the product of old myths and polemics.[131] The rise of Islamophobia, according to Carl Ernst, had contributed to the negative views about Islam and Muslims in the West.[132] In contrast, Pascal Bruckner and Paul Berman have entered the "Islam in Europe" debate. Berman identifies a "reactionary turn in the intellectual world" represented by Western scholars who idealize Islam.[133]
Community
Demographics
A comprehensive 2009 demographic study of 232 countries and territories reported that 23% of the global population or 1.57 billion people are Muslims.[7] Of those, 87–90% are Sunni[134] and 10–13% are Shi'a,[7] with a small minority belonging to other sects. Approximately 50 countries are Muslim-majority,[135] and Arabs account for around 20% of all Muslims worldwide.
The majority of Muslims live in Asia and Africa.[136] Approximately 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia, with over 683 million adherents in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.[137][138] In the Middle East, non-Arab countries such as Turkey and Iran are the largest Muslim-majority countries; in Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have the most populous Muslim communities.[139]
According to most estimates, the People's Republic of China has approximately 20 to 30 million Muslims (1.5% to 2% of the population).[140][141][142][143][144] Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity in many European countries,[145] and is slowly catching up to that status in the Americas and Australia.
Mosques
A mosque is a place of worship for Muslims, who often refer to it by its Arabic name, masjid. The word mosque in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated to Islamic worship, although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller, privately owned mosque and the larger, "collective" mosque (masjid jāmi`)[146]. Although the primary purpose of the mosque is to serve as a place of prayer, it is also important to the Muslim community as a place to meet and study. Modern mosques have evolved greatly from the early designs of the 7th century, and contain a variety of architectural elements such as minarets.[147]
Family life
The basic unit of Islamic society is the family, and Islam defines the obligations and legal rights of family members. The father is seen as financially responsible for his family, and is obliged to cater for their well-being. The division of inheritance is specified in the Qur'an, which states that most of it is to pass to the immediate family, while a portion is set aside for the payment of debts and the making of bequests. The woman's share of inheritance is generally half of that of a man with the same rights of succession.[148] Marriage in Islam is a civil contract which consists of an offer and acceptance between two qualified parties in the presence of two witnesses. The groom is required to pay a bridal gift (mahr) to the bride, as stipulated in the contract.[149]
A man may have up to four wives if he believes he can treat them equally, while a woman may have only one husband. In most Muslim countries, the process of divorce in Islam is known as talaq, which the husband initiates by pronouncing the word "divorce".[150] Scholars disagree whether Islamic holy texts justify traditional Islamic practices such as veiling and seclusion (purdah).
Starting in the 20th century, Muslim social reformers argued against these and other practices such as polygamy in Islam, with varying success. At the same time, many Muslim women have attempted to reconcile tradition with modernity by combining an active life with outward modesty. Certain Islamist groups like the Taliban have sought to continue traditional law as applied to women.[151]
Calendar
The formal beginning of the Muslim era was chosen to be the Hijra in 622 CE, which was an important turning point in Muhammad's fortunes. The assignment of this year as the year 1 AH (Anno Hegirae) in the Islamic calendar was reportedly made by Caliph Umar. It is a lunar calendar, with nineteen ordinary years of 354 days and eleven leap years of 355 days in a thirty-year cycle. Islamic dates cannot be converted to CE/AD dates simply by adding 622 years: allowance must also be made for the fact that each Hijri century corresponds to only 97 years in the Christian calendar.[152]
The year 1428 AH coincides almost completely with 2007 CE.
Islamic holy days fall on fixed dates of the lunar calendar, which means that they occur in different seasons in different years in the Gregorian calendar. The most important Islamic festivals are Eid al-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر) on the 1st of Shawwal, marking the end of the fasting month Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى) on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah, coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca.[153] Similar to the Jewish calendar, days in the Islamic calendar last from sunset to sunset.[154]
Clergy
There are many terms in Islam to refer to religiously sanctioned positions of Islam but generally refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. In a broader sense, the term ulema is used to describe the body of Muslim clergy who have completed several years of training and study of Islamic sciences, such as a mufti, qadi, faqih, or muhaddith. Some Muslims include under this term the village mullahs, imams, and maulvis—who have attained only the lowest rungs on the ladder of Islamic scholarship; other Muslims would say that clerics must meet higher standards to be considered ulema. Some muslims pratcise ijtihad whereby they don't accept the authority of clergy.[155]
Arabic
Arabic is the language of the Qur'an and Hadith. Arabic is often associated with Islam, but it is also spoken by Arab Christians, Mizrahi Jews and Iraqi Mandaeans.
Most of the world's Muslims do not speak Arabic as their native language but many can read the script and recite the words of religious texts. Some Muslims consider the Arabic language to be "the language chosen by God to speak to mankind" and the original revealed language spoken by man from which all other languages were derived having been corrupted.[156][157] It is most notably understood by Muslims as being the lingua franca of the afterlife.[citation needed] There was an initial resistance to printing of Islamic scriptures as a resistance to Christian influences.[158] Not all Arabs are muslim either, as officially Arab countries such as Egypt, Lebanon and Syria all have significant Christian communities.
Denominations
Islam consists of a number of religious denominations that are essentially similar in belief but which have significant theological and legal differences. The primary division is between the Sunni and the Shi'a, with Sufism generally considered to be a mystical inflection of Islam rather than a distinct school. Sunnis make up the largest branch of Islam[159][160][134] followed by the Shi'a[161] and the remaining number may belong to a variety of other Islamic sects.[162]
Sunni
Sunni Muslims are the largest group in Islam, comprising the vast bulk[159][134] of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, hence the title 'Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah' (people of the principle and majority). In Arabic, as-Sunnah literally means "principle" or "path". The Sunnah (the example of Muhammad's life) as recorded in the Qur'an and the hadith is the main pillar of Sunni doctrine. Sunnis believe that the first four caliphs were the rightful successors to Muhammad; since God did not specify any particular leaders to succeed him, those leaders had to be elected. There are four recognised madh'habs (schools of thought): Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali. All four accept the validity of the others and a Muslim may choose any one that he or she finds agreeable.
There are other Islamic sects that may be considered as being Sunni yet are believed to have departed from the majority by introducing bidah (innovations) and extreme political views which are divorced from Islam.[163]
Shi'a
The Shi'a constitute 10-15% of Islam,[164] coming as the second-largest branch.[165] They believe in the political and religious leadership of Imams from the progeny of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who according to most Shi'a are in a state of ismah, meaning infallibility. They believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, as the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was his rightful successor, and they call him the first Imam (leader), rejecting the legitimacy of the previous Muslim caliphs. To most Shi'a, an Imam rules by right of divine appointment and holds "absolute spiritual authority" among Muslims, having final say in matters of doctrine and revelation.[166]
Approximately 40% of worldwide Shi'a adherents are concentrated in Iran, with other significant population in Iraq, Pakistan, and India.[165] Shi'a make up the majority of the Muslim population in several countries, including Iran (90–95%), Iraq (65–70%), Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Lebanon.[165]
Shi'a Islam has several branches, the largest of which is the Twelvers (iṯnāʿašariyya) which the label Shi'a generally refers to. Although the Twelver Shi'a share many core practices with the Sunni, the two branches disagree over the proper importance and validity of specific collections of hadith. The Twelver Shi'a follow a legal tradition called Ja'fari jurisprudence.[167] Other smaller groups include the Ismaili and Zaidi, who differ from Twelvers in both their line of successors and theological beliefs.[168]
Sufism
Sufism is a mystical-ascetic approach to Islam. By focusing on the more spiritual aspects of religion, Sufis strive to obtain direct experience of God by making use of "intuitive and emotional faculties" that one must be trained to use.[169] Sufism and Islamic law are usually considered to be complementary, although Sufism has been criticized by salafi for what they see as an unjustified religious innovation. Many Sufi orders, or tariqas, can be classified as either Sunni or Shi'a, but others classify themselves simply as 'Sufi'.[170][171] Some Sufi groups can be described as non-Islamic when their teachings are very distinct from Islam.
Others
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (Urdu: احمدِیہ) is a religious movement founded towards the end of the 19th century and originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908). Ghulam Ahmad was an important religious figure who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as predicted in the traditions of various world religions and bring about the final triumph of Islam as per Islamic prophecy. He claimed that he was the Mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah (“Second Coming of Christ”) and Mahdi awaited by Muslims.[172][173][174][175][176] Ahmadi emphasis lay in the belief that Islam is the final law for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring to it its true essence and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Thus, Ahmadis view themselves as leading the revival and peaceful propagation of Islam.[177] The Ahmadis were among the earliest Muslim communities to arrive in Britain and other Western countries.[177] Ahmadis are considered to be non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims. They have been formally declared as non-Muslims by Pakistan.
Ibadi
The Kharijites are a sect that dates back to the early days of Islam. The only surviving branch of the Kharijites is Ibadism. Unlike most Kharijite groups, Ibadism does not regard sinful Muslims as unbelievers. The Imamate is an important topic in Ibadi legal literature, which stipulates that the leader should be chosen solely on the basis of his knowledge and piety, and is to be deposed if he acts unjustly. Most Ibadi Muslims live in Oman.[178] There are communities of Ibadis that took refuge in the Mzab oases in southern Algeria, the Nafusa Mountains in western Libya, and in Djerba Island (Tunisia), in order to avoid persecution in certain periods of history.[179]
Salafi
The recent Salafi movement, also known as Wahhabi, which sees itself as restorationist and claims to derive its teachings from the original sources of Islam by refuting the established schools of thought of Sunni Islam.
Quranist
Quranist is a term used to refer to Muslims who reject hadith, or reported traditions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and follow the Qur'an, a sacred text of Islam, exclusively.[180]
Cultural Muslim
Generally, a Muslim is defined by faith in the religion of Islam; however, in the modern world there are religiously unobservant, agnostic or atheist individuals who still identify with the Muslim culture due to family background, personal experiences or fear of retribution for apostasy, an approach discussed by Malise Ruthven.[181] There are also syncretic muslims, where they reconcile disparate beliefs with Islam, for example in Chrislam or Universal Sufism.[182][183]
