An Introduction to Islam in the 21st Century E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
This engaging introduction to Islam examines its lived reality, its worldwide presence, and the variety of beliefs and practices encompassed by the religion. The global perspective uniquely captures the diversity of Islam expressed throughout different countries in the present day.
- A comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, and global introduction to Islam, covering its history as well as current issues, experiences, and challenges
- Incorporates key new research on Muslims from a variety of countries across Europe, Latin America, Indonesia, and Malaysia Central Asia
- Directly addresses controversial issues, including political violence and ‘terrorism’, anti-western sentiments, and Islamophobia
- Explores different responses from various Islamic communities to globalizing trends
- Highlights key patterns within Islamic history that shed light upon the origins and evolution of current movements and thought
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Seitenzahl: 744
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Contents
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgments
Part I Overview Islam: Image and Reality
1 Introduction
Introduction
Image and Reality
Organization of the Text
Discussion Questions
2 The Historical Context
Introduction
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Culture, Commerce, and Contexts
The Early Caliphates and the Spread of Islam
The Medieval Empires
European Colonialism and Its Legacy
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
3 Religious Structures
Introduction
Tawhīd: The Organizing Principle of Islamic Thought
Introducing Basic Islamic Beliefs and Texts
Rethinking Islam: The Message, the Messenger, and God
The Qurʾan: The Recitation
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
4 Islamic Beliefs
Introduction
The sunna of the Prophet
The Development of Islamic Jurisprudence, Kalam, and Philosophy
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
5 Islamic Political Theology
Introduction
Islamic Political Theology and the Qurʾan
The Origins of Islamic Political Theology
The Shiʿat ʿAli and the Kharijites
Modern Traditionalist Sunnism
Shiʿism
The Imamate
Branches within Shiʿism
Premodern and Modern Developments Built on Classical Legacies
Political Theology Summarized
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
Part II Islam and the Modern World
6 Islam and the State
Introduction
The Historical Context
Cases
Conclusion
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
7 Islam and the State
Introduction
The Theoretical and Historical Context
The Traditionalist State
The Critique of the Islamist Vision
Cases
Conclusion
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
8 Muslims as Minorities in the West
Introduction
The United Kingdom and the United States
France and Germany
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
Part III Regional Studies
9 Islam in Africa
Introduction
Islam in Africa: A Kaleidoscopic Debut
Islam in Africa in the Era of the Great Sudano-Sahelian States
Sufism in Africa
Movements of Islamic Reform in Africa through the Jihad: The Fulani Thread
Islam in Africa: The Colonial Paradox
Islam in Postcolonial Africa: Between Reform and Continuity
Islam in Africa and the “War on Terror”
Conclusion
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
10 Islam in South Asia
Introduction
History
Islamic Movements in South Asia
Political Islam in South Asia
Gender and Islam in South Asia
Conclusion
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
11 Islam in Central Asia
Introduction
The Early Years of Independence
State Policies: From Soviet Aggressive Secularism to Emergent Ambiguous Secularisms
Negotiating Good Muslimness
Future Prospects
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
12 Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia
Introduction
The Colonial Encounter
Indonesia in the 20th Century
Malaysia
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
13 Muslim Histories in Latin America and the Caribbean
Introduction
Shadows of al-Andalus in the Spanish Colonial Order
African Rebellion and Refuge in a Slavocrat Society
From Muharram to Hosay in Caribbean Creolization
Institutionalizing Islam in an Emergent Civil Society
Conversion (or Reversion) at a Time of Counter-Terrorism
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
Part IV Islam in a Globalized World
14 The Ecology of Teaching about Islam and Muslims in the 21st Century
Introduction
Who Teaches? An Ecosystem on the Brink
Sentiments since 9/11
Debates: How to Describe Islam
Debates: Questions of Violence
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
15 Terrorism, Islamophobia, and the Media
Introduction
Religion and the Question of Violence
The Afghan War and the Rise of Transnational Militancy
Understanding the War on Terror
Terrorism, Islamophobia, and the Media
Conclusion
Notes
Discussion Questions
Suggested Further Reading
Conclusion
Islamic Thought and Practice
Islam’s Regional Differences
Islam in the 21st Century
Suggested Further Reading
Index
This edition first published 2013© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
An introduction to islam in the 21st century / edited by Aminah Beverly McCloud, Scott W. Hibbard, and Laith Saud. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-9361-0 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-9360-3(pbk. : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-118-27392-0 (epdf) – ISBN 978-1-118-27391-3(epub) – ISBN 978-1-118-27390-6 (emobi) – ISBN 978-1-118-27389-0(coursesmart) – ISBN 978-1-118-27388-3 (desktop) 1. Islam. 2. Islam–21st century. I. McCloud, Aminah Beverly, 1948– II. Hibbard, Scott W., 1962– III. Saud, Laith. BP161.3.I58 2013 297.09′05–dc23
2012042925
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Courtyard of Masjed-e-Jomeh Mosque, Isfahan. © Damon Lynch / Salam StockCover design by Simon Levy Associates
Notes on Contributors
Scott W. Hibbard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at DePaul University, Chicago, where he teaches courses on Middle East politics, American foreign policy, and religion and politics. He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2005 and holds advanced degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc Political Theory, 1989), and from Georgetown University (MA Liberal Studies, 1988). Hibbard also taught at the American University in Cairo, as part of a Fulbright Award, during the 2009–1010 academic year. Hibbard is the author of Religious Politics and Secular States: Egypt, India and the United States (2010) and co-author (with David Little) of Islamic Activism and US Foreign Policy (1997).John Tofik Karam teaches in the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at DePaul University, Chicago. He studies Arab cultural practices and social networks as a window to understanding national and hemispheric orders. Revealing how Arabness reflects and shapes the neoliberal turn in Brazil, his first book, Another Arabesque, won awards from the Arab American National Museum (AANM) and the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA). Karam is now working on his second book, Redrawing US–South American Geopolitics: Arabs, the Tri-Border, and the Rise of Brazil. Focusing on the 50-year history of Muslim Lebanese and Palestinians at a South American trinational border, this book maps how their diaspora has helped define Brazil’s emergence as a hemispheric power in relation to Argentina, Paraguay, and the US, in a novel redrawing US–South American relations.Saeed A. Khanteaches Islamic and Middle East history, politics and culture in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Wayne State University, Detroit, where he is also Fellow at the Center for the Study of Citizenship. His area of research is the identity politics of Muslim diaspora communities in the US, UK, and Europe. Publications include contributions in the volumesMuslim Youth: Challenges, Opportunities and Expectations(edited by Mohammad Seddon and Fauzia Ahmad, 2012);Defining and Re-Defining Diaspora: From Theory to Reality(edited by Marianne David and Javier Muñoz-Basols, 2011);Negotiating Boundaries? Identities, Sexualities, Diversities(edited by Clare Beckett, Owen Heathcote, and Marie Macey 2007); theEncyclopedia of Islam in the United States(edited by Jocelyn Cesari, 2007); and theEncyclopedia of Women and Islamic Culture(edited by Suad Joseph, 2007). He is also on the Editorial Board of theJournal of Islamic Law and Culture.Maria Louwis Associate Professor in Anthropology at the Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark. She has done extensive fieldwork in Central Asia – in particular Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan – focusing on everyday religion and secularism, morality and politics in the context of post-Soviet social change.Babacar Mbengue is Adjunct Professor of Islamic Studies in the Islamic World Studies Program and Religious Studies Department at DePaul University, Chicago. He also teaches international relations and Islam and politics at Loyola University Chicago’s Political Science Department. Dr. Mbengue’s areas of focus are Islam in Africa, West African Muslim communities in the West, and the intersection between premodern Islamic business law and contemporary Islamic finance. As a former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Mbengue is fluent in four languages: Wolof, Arabic, French, and English.Aminah Beverly McCloudis Director of the Islamic World Studies Program and Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. Since 2006 she has directed the nation’s only undergraduate baccalaureate program in Islamic World Studies. During her tenure at DePaul University she founded the Islam in America Conference and established the Islam in America Archives and the Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, of which she is the current Editor in Chief. In addition to her work at the university, she is author of African American Islam (1995), Questions of Faith (1999), and Transnational Muslims in American Society (2006). She is currently working on Silks: The Textures of American Muslim Women’s Lives and has also authored over thirty-five articles on topics ranging from Islamic law to Muslim women. Dr. McCloud is a Fulbright Scholar, a consultant on Muslim affairs for the courts, a regular reviewer for The Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, an advisory board member of the Institute for Social and Policy Understanding, and a participant in the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis University. She has received grants for her work from the Ford Foundation, the Illinois Humanities Council, the Graham Architectural Foundation, and the Lilly Foundation. She has also worked on a number of television projects on Muslims and on task forces for the East West Institute and for the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs relating to Islam and Muslims.Laith Saud is Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. A former contributing writer for al-Jazeera, Mr. Saud specializes in Islamic political thought and in the analysis of the Middle East, particularly the Arab world. He has conducted fieldwork in Egypt, interviewed members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and published articles on Islamic thought and the philosophical underpinnings of the “Arab Spring.” He makes regular appearances on national and international media such as NPR and PBS.
Acknowledgments
We must dedicate this text to husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, and children who, through their support, enabled us to work diligently on it. To Frederick Thaufeer al-Deen (husband of Aminah McCloud) and especially to Tara Magner (wife of Scott Hibbard), who came to the rescue of a chapter in the eleventh hour, we thank you for your love and support of this project. To Sabah and Nasrin Saud (parents of Laith Saud), we thank you for your support and grandchild care. To a wonderful young lady who will now have more time with her dad, Yasmine Saud, thanks for sharing him with us. We must also acknowledge two extremely dedicated students, Trent Carl and Richard Reinhardt, for their tireless work on and dedication to this project. Our thanks to Blackwell editorial people – Isobel Bainton and staff – who worked diligently with us on this project. We are deeply indebted to Manuela Tecusan, our copy-editor, who lost considerable sleep assisting us in bringing this text to light. Your guidance and patience have seen us through. We hope to work with you in the future. Thank all of you.
Part I
Overview
Islam: Image and Reality
1
Introduction
AMINAH BEVERLY MCCLOUD, SCOTT W. HIBBARD, AND LAITH SAUD
Introduction
This text provides an introduction to Islam that begins its inquiry with the social and political realities that inform 21st-century Islamic practice. It is consciously global in perspective, and seeks to capture the diversity of Islam as it manifests in different regions and countries. The book also examines the different interpretations and debates that characterize the tradition, both yesterday and today. Like other textbooks, it addresses what are traditionally seen as the historical contexts in which Islam emerged, and the core elements of the tradition. However, the book seeks to move beyond these basic topics, and address issues that are not typically covered, such as the ideas and practices of Islam in different regions and countries, the phenomenon of militancy, Islamophobia, and the teaching of Islam in the West, among other issues.
The central theme of this book is that the image of Islam (particularly in the West) is very different from the lived reality of over a billion adherents around the globe. While Islam is often imagined as a static and monolithic tradition, the reality is quite different. Like other world religions, it is fluid, dynamic, and characterized by enormous diversity. By examining trends in different countries and regions – Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the United States and Europe – we hope to give a more accurate depiction of Islam as a living religion.
The authors undertook this project because they believed that there is a need for a more contemporary and holistic introduction to Islam, one that captures not simply the past but also the present. Particularly given the misinformed and often misleading characterization of the Islamic tradition that appears in the mass media (and by the ever increasing number of “experts” that have emerged since the events of 9/11), such a textbook will be an important contribution to public understanding and to university-level education. The text begins with an examination of Islamic history, the central elements of the tradition, and long-standing debates. It also highlights key patterns within Islamic history that shed light upon the origins and evolution of current movements and thought. We subsequently move on to more contemporary issues and examine a plethora of countries and thinkers in order to put those issues in context.
An Introduction to Islam in the 21st Century also addresses controversial issues directly. The text examines topics including political violence and “terrorism,” anti-Western sentiments, and Islamophobia. We examine these issues as realities in the contemporary world, and we inquire why they exist and look at the underlying causes that give rise to such phenomena. In doing so, we reject the common tendency to explain such issues as simply matters of culture or tradition. Rather, we look to history, patterns of political economy, and the evolution of particular ideologies to help us understand such trends. We also seek to explore contemporary forms of globalization (economic, cultural, and political), and the nature of trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific Muslim responses to such trends. The world is changing everywhere, not least the Muslim world. Finally, we are particularly interested in what is different, if anything, in both the understanding and the articulation of Islam in the post-9/11 environment for Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the world.
Image and Reality
The image of Islam in the West is rooted in centuries of misperceptions. The vision that emerges from the early European experience with different Muslim powers is one defined by antagonism and conflict. This is a part of what fueled the Christian Crusades between the 11th and 15th centuries, but was also apparent in later periods of European development, which was similarly informed by the opposition to an external, Turkish, or Muslim “other.” Throughout this early history, the Islamic world was perceived as hostile to the Christian West, and that this political rivalry was rooted in religious differences. The characterization of Islam by the so-called Orientalist writers of the Colonial period “essentialized” the tradition – that is, identified certain characteristics of the Islamic tradition as embodying the “essence” of the religion. This constructed essence included such things as unquestioned belief, an emphasis upon the community at the expense of the individual, and an innate inclination to oppress women. This essence was perceived to be not only definitive, but unchanging.
Such assumptions are fundamentally incorrect, but, nonetheless, continue to influence popular perceptions of Islam in the modern world. Much of the Islamophobia of the post-9/11 era has seized on these ideas, and portrays Islam (and Muslims) as hostile to Western values. This hostility is seen, moreover, as being rooted in the realm of religion and ideology. The inherent bias in this characterization of Islam is evident in any number of ways, and has frequently had the effect of subjecting Muslim citizens in the West to discrimination and abuse. The portrayal of young Arabs and Muslims in the popular media and the denigration of Islam by Western politicians and public figures all contribute to a public perception of Islam as monolithic, unchanging, and largely hostile to the Enlightenment norms which inform Western civilization.
The lived reality of Islam is quite different from this stereotype, and is as varied as humanity itself. Significant Muslim populations can be found in countries across the planet. 1.54 billion Muslims in the world live on every continent as majorities and minorities. While historically centered in the Middle East and North Africa, today the largest populations are found in Asia (see Map 1.1).
This geographical diversity reflects cultural and theological differentiation as well. The practices and beliefs that are prevalent in Indonesia or Western Africa differ in significant ways from the distinctive practices of Saudi Arabia, for example. Similarly, the internal theological debates of today reflect long-standing differences within the Islamic tradition over interpretation. These debates have multiplied in the postcolonial period as different communities negotiate modernity and come to grips with a rapidly changing world. These trends have become even more relevant in the post-Cold War era, which has been characterized by a high degree of economic and political globalization. Even if there are certain principles to which all Muslims adhere – such as recognition of the underlying unity of God (in Arabic, Tawhīd) – interpreting the meaning and implications of these principles, and applying them in a lived reality, remains a source of on-going discussion and debate. Rather than representing a monolithic unity, then, these different approaches to understanding God’s Will represent a spectrum of thought, one that is characterized by diversity, not homogeneity.
Map 1.1 2010 population estimates from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Source: Mapping The Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population, Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, October2009: 3 (at http://www.pewforum.org/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx, accessed September 22, 2012).
From the Muslim intellectual perspective, there are several key philosophical issues – particularly the relationship between knowledge and authority, and the related matter of defining legitimate authority – that continue to provide the structure of 21st-century conversations. In this text, clarifying these debates and discussions takes precedence over any reiteration of Islamic history which readers can find elsewhere. The following chapters expand upon these ideas.
Organization of the Text
Part I provides an overview of the basic structures and debates within Islam. It begins with a historical chapter (Chapter 2), which provides an introduction to the context in which Islam first emerged, and how the early political structures developed. This includes a brief overview of the historical eras which formed the early Islamic period; the history of the Prophet Muhammad, the rise of the early caliphates, the expansion of Islam, and subsequent dynasties. This chapter will also examine the “Gunpowder Empires,” and the rise of European colonialism and its legacies.
The three chapters that follow discuss the structures, tenets, debates, and sects of the Islamic tradition with the concept of a “spectrum of belief” organized around a central belief in God. Chapter 3 will introduce the reader to fundamental elements of the Islamic worldview that have structured the discourses within the religious tradition both in the past and in the present. A key organizing belief in the Islamic tradition is Tawhīd, the underlying unity of God and all creation. Chapter 3 examines this concept, and how it has informed all aspects of Islamic civilization. This chapter also examines the influence of the life of the Prophet Muhammad upon the evolution of the faith, and provides an overview of the basic beliefs and texts of the Islamic tradition, as well as a discussion of the five Pillars of Islam.
An issue that is central to the pedagogy (i.e. educational philosophy) of this text is that the Islamic worldview must be rendered in its full diversity and complexity. This idea is very much reflected in Chapter 4, which focuses on the evolution of Islamic doctrines, beliefs, and practices. This includes the development of Islamic law, kalam (dialectical theology), philosophy, ethics, and social theory. A central feature of this chapter is its elaboration on the spectrum of thought that has defined the tradition, and the tension between those who rely on tradition to guide their interpretation of the religion and those who rely on human reason to interpret Islam. It is important to remember that these aspects of the religion developed through a process of dialogue and debate; this is a community discourse and not a product of one particular religious hierarchy. These dialogues and debates, moreover, continue to this day.
In Chapter 5 we explore the fundamental features of what are commonly referred to as “Islamic sects.” A number of particular “spiritual types,” to use the words of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, have emerged within the tradition, which include Sunnism, Shiʿism, and the diversity therein. This chapter will examine these types via their theological and philosophical contributions to the Islamic discourse. One of the important contributions of this chapter is that it allows readers to better understand the modern implications of these debates, which are more fully discussed in subsequent chapters.
Part II examines Islam in a modern political context. This includes a discussion of the ongoing debate about the proper relationship between Islam and political authority. Although it is commonly argued that there is no distinction between religion and state in the Islamic tradition, the reality has always been otherwise. While the Prophet Muhammad embodied both religious and political authority, the relationship between the two remained unclear during the reign of the immediate successors to the Prophet. Subsequent trends in Islamic history, moreover, saw the emergence of a separation of function – and even competition – between religious authorities and their political counterparts. At issue in this ongoing competition is, on the one hand, the role of religious authorities in regulating the affairs of state, and, on the other, the danger to Islamic tradition of its overt manipulation by political leaders. An additional issue involves the reassertions of the demands for a caliphate (the single embodiment of both religious and political authority). These debates are not unique to the Islamic tradition, nor are there settled answers within Islam regarding the proper role of religion in government. Rather, in the contemporary period, the reality is defined by ongoing debates about the role of religion in the modern state.
Chapter 6 examines these issues in the context of societies that established secular political structures in the early and mid-20th century. The most influential – and extreme – example of the secular trend is Turkey, whose modern founder, Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, sought to orient a newly recreated Turkey toward Europe, not the Arab Middle East. The secular political structure in Turkey marked a sharp break from the Ottoman past. Turkey was not the only case, however. Pre-revolutionary Iran (1906–1979), Nasser’s Egypt, the Arab nationalist states of Syria and Iraq, among others, were all consciously secular. At the heart of this movement was a twofold belief. On the one hand, the effort to modernize entailed a de-emphasis (or elimination) of religion, or at least its relegation to the margins of public life. These debates also have their origins in the philosophical debates of Chapter 3, as religious structures were profoundly changed by choices made with regard to the role of religion in government. There was, however, a second feature as well: the diversity within various societies – particularly in Asia – required a greater degree of official neutrality in matters of religion. Hence, Arab Christians, South Asian Hindus, and Chinese Christians living as minorities in places such as Indonesia or India demanded a more religiously neutral political authority. This sets the stage for our later examinations.
Chapter 7 looks at states that took very different approaches to these issues, and linked religious authority to state authority in various ways. Here we review the underlying rationale – the assumption that Islam is both a religion and a state (din wa dawla) – and how this relationship has manifested in practice. The most well-known examples of this close affiliation of religion and state power are in Iran (which has a self-consciously theocratic political structure) and Saudi Arabia (a sharia-inclined state where religious officials do not actually rule). However, there are numerous other examples (and precedents), such as those found in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan (both during the 19th century Mahdist regime and under the current government). We also examine religious opposition groups that have argued for a more central role for religion in government. Sometimes religion is an opposition discourse, and sometimes it is invoked in support of the modern state. Regardless of whether religion is tied to a particular regime or to the political opposition, the arguments for a more overt role of religion in governance are similar: God is the ultimate source of sovereignty, and the Qurʾan ought to provide the basis for legislation, law, and public order.
It is important to recognize that the distinction between “Islamic states” (or what we will refer to as “traditionalist states”) and “secular states” is not always sharp or clearly defined. Secular governments regularly invoke religion as a basis of popular support even if they remain largely neutral in theological matters. More to the point, however, is that the debates over the proper interpretation of religion in public life, and the proper relationship between religious and state authority, are never resolved in a permanent manner, in much the same way as the underlying philosophical debates endure. These issues remain a source of continuing debate and periodically recur in the context of modern politics. Our discussion of religious and political authority and their often contentious dynamics leads us to a discussion of political violence as one means of promoting a narrow religious vision by a vocal minority. To these conversations are added the reactions, both within the Islamic community and from outside.
Chapter 8 examines the question of Muslim minorities living in the West. At issue are the various challenges associated with integrating into Western society while retaining one’s cultural and religious heritage. On the one hand, there is an understandable resistance among Muslim minorities to assimilate into a largely secular culture, while on the other, there is an often visceral opposition within majority communities to tolerate in a non-discriminatory manner minority populations in their midst. This is not a new challenge, but is an enduring feature of human history. What makes the issue of Muslim minorities living in the West so unique in the 21st century is the high level of emigration that has transpired since the end of World War II. The resulting diversity within Western societies has created numerous issues for both the host populations and the migrant communities. This chapter examines these challenges in four countries with the largest Muslim communities – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany – and the different ways in which each have sought to deal with the minorities in their midst.
Part III focuses on regional examinations. The next four chapters offer a survey of Muslims in different regions and continents. These regions were selected, in large measure, by their significant history and size of Muslim populations. They were also selected to provide a glimpse into the diversity of Islam culture and traditions. Chapter 9 begins this exploration in Africa. It looks at the penetration, expansion, and assimilation of Islam on the African continent, with a particular focus on the regions south of the Sahara desert. This review sheds light on the diversity of the religious experience, the historical context and, ultimately, the emergence of powerful Muslim states. The chapter also looks at the development of important movements of Islamic reform during the colonial and postcolonial eras. This helps to shed light on both the past and present traits of Islam in Africa, often neglected in the study of Islam as a global phenomenon.
Chapter 10 looks at Islam within the countries of South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Out of the roughly 1.6 billion who live on the subcontinent, nearly a third are Muslim. This gives the subcontinent one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. Like the other regions in Asia, Islam first arrived via commercial traders in the 8th century, though its influence became most pronounced in later centuries, particularly with the rise of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. While the Mughals were eclipsed by British colonial rule in the mid-19th century, Islam has nonetheless remained a powerful cultural and political force in the region. It has given rise to a variety of political movements, and various South Asian thinkers have greatly influenced popular understandings of Islam throughout the world. The South Asian experience of Islam has also been characterized by a great deal of diversity. This is due, in part, to the historical circumstances, and the fact that India’s Muslims are a minority population, while across the border, Islam is the official state religion in Pakistan. In short, Islamic thought and practice shape the lives of millions of people throughout the region, though this occurs in a variety of diverse ways.
In Chapter 11 we explore Islam in the much understudied regions of the former Soviet Republics. This area is home to more than 50 million Muslims. Scholars have previously only focused on the non-Muslim peoples, presuming that Islam had been relegated to extinction by decades of policies of eradication. This chapter provides a look at the Islamic revival present in the region.
The focus of Chapter 12 turns our attention to the experience of Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia is, of course, the nation with the largest Muslim population on the planet, and would be of interest for that reason alone. But it is also of interest because of its democratic governing structures, its pluralist vision of Islam, and its model of economic development. While Indonesia is not immune to the economic, political, and social pressures endemic in the region, the country has, nonetheless, navigated these challenges in an innovative manner. Similarly, in Malaysia, the diversity of the population – with numerous Hindus, ethnic Chinese Christians, and other populations – has limited the appeal (and viability) of an exclusive religious politics. The chapter subsequently looks at the politics, culture, and development of these societies and how they were shaped by – and helped to shape – Islam in the region.
In Chapter 13, we examine the Muslim histories in Latin America and the Caribbean. Though not traditionally considered a Muslim region, the history of Muslims in this area goes back over 500 years. Individuals of Moorish descent from both the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa arrived along with Spanish colonization. Though many came as slaves, they nonetheless brought with them their religion, tradition, and culture. Subsequent migrations came in later centuries, and have contributed to a distinct sensibility of the region. This chapter helps to reveal the global breadth of Islam and its indelible but often overlooked role in shaping the culture, architecture, and life in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Part IV, the final part of the textbook, examines Islam in a globalized world. Chapter 14 takes up this topic by viewing the challenges of teaching Islam in the post-9/11 West. Given the politicization of Islam and the involvement of Western governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and other Muslim countries, providing unbiased information on the diversity of the Islamic experience has proved contentious and difficult. A central part of the issue is the lack of qualified instructors, as well as the unevenness of knowledge. A second feature is the atmosphere in which instructors are teaching. The politicized nature of the course content and the classroom make frank and open conversations difficult at best. Chapter 14 seeks to offer a positive alternative for teaching about Islam in the 21st century. It begins by examining the “ecosystem” of the classroom – the relationship between the environment, the students, and the teachers – and how this can be reconstructed in a more open manner. Within the Islamic tradition, knowledge is produced through dialogue. Hence, a truly open educational environment encourages not just teaching, but discourse. It also demands a nuanced appreciation of Islam – by recognizing the spectrum of thought – as well as a civic (and civil) approach to the subject.
What makes the teaching of Islam particularly difficult in the contemporary context is the question of violence, terrorism, and extremism. Chapter 15 addresses these issues directly. It begins with a recognition that the connections between religion and violence can been found in all traditions. This is what Scott Appleby has referred to as the “ambivalence of the sacred,” where religion serves as both a warrant for violent action and a call for peace and tolerance. While the core ethical teachings of Islam concern justice and peace, Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda have nonetheless resorted to violence as a means of pursuing their political ends. This has contributed to a perception in the West that Islam (as a world religion) has a unique predisposition toward violence. Ironically, the moral judgment of the West with regard to the question of violence by Islamic activists is itself highly ambivalent. When the US supported the mujahidin (holy warriors) fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the Cold War, they were seen as heroic and led Ronald Reagan to deem them to be the “moral equivalent of America’s Founding Fathers.” Nonetheless, it is the memories of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and, later, the first Gulf War, that shaped a view of Islam as hostile to the West.
The attacks of September 11, 2001 reinforced this perception. Although it is obvious that over 1 billion people did not participate in these attacks, Western commentators commonly blame the entirety of Islam for the violence. Moreover, Western governmental actions are a central part of the conflicts that plague the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The United States has fought two wars with Iraq, imposed sanctions on Iran and Iraq, supported autocratic regimes throughout these regions, and otherwise promoted policies that antagonize populations throughout the Muslim world. These policies – and the politics behind them – are the real source of anti-American sentiment, and have their roots in America’s post-World War II foreign policies. The media depiction of 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a new trend is, thus, misleading. Rather, it is simply another chapter in a long history of Western interaction in the region. The media coverage of recent events and its anti-Islam biases, however, is somewhat new. The conscious effort of certain commentators and analysts to stigmatize Islam and Muslims has greatly influence popular media, and has contributed to the Islamophobia that has emerged in recent years. Not only is this trend troubling for minority populations, but it should be of concern to all Americans. The denigration of Muslim Americans (and of Islam) undermines such key American values as the freedom of religion, equal treatment of peoples, and the belief that we, as a people, judge others by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
Discussion Questions
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The Historical Context
AMINAH BEVERLY MCCLOUD, SCOTT W. HIBBARD, AND LAITH SAUD
Introduction
The present chapter provides a brief overview of the historical context in which Islam emerged and evolved as a religious tradition. The chapter begins with an examination of pre-Islamic Arabia and of the social and political circumstances in which Prophet Muhammad received his message. It will then review the events and people associated with the establishment of the faith and the rise of a political order associated with the message of Islam. This early period of Islamic history was defined, first and foremost, by the Prophet’s – Muhammad ibn Abdullah’s – experience of Revelation and by the subsequent formation of an early community, transformed in faith by the message of the Qurʾan.This was also a time that was shaped by the collapse of neighboring empires and the dramatic expansion of the young Islamic community across North Africa into the Iberian Peninsula and north and east into the Levant and Byzantine heartland. Ultimately Islam would spread into Southeastern Europe and well into Central Asia, India, Thailand, and Java.
The story of Islam is in essence a story of the effect that a profound revelation – and a new prophet – had upon the world. Although originating in the Arabian Peninsula, Islam would make its influence felt far beyond its early territorial boundaries. Central to this history is a dramatic and ongoing narrative of different communities struggling to interpret the Revelation, while synthesizing their indigenous cultures with the Islamic ethos. The result has been a diversity of religious experiences and practices that, combined, mark Islam as a world religion. Although the ethical values and worldview of the Qurʾan are immutable, the particular manifestations and practices of Islam differ across regions and cultures. As Islam took root in areas outside of the Arab world, local populations made Islam their own, keeping the core teachings intact but providing Islam with the unique coloring of their own indigenous worlds. A key feature of this history, then, is the relationship between the Arab center and Muslims in other lands with respect to the control of religious interpretation and of the institutions that have come to define the tradition.
Another key feature is the relationship of Islam to politics. Many have argued that Islam is both a religion and a state (din wa dawla) and has never known the separation between religion and politics. History, however, reveals a much more complex – and often contentious – relationship, wherein religious knowledge (and authority) came to lie within the ulamā – the community of learned scholars of Islam – and political power remained with the sultan or ruler. The changing nature of these relationships is one significant aspect of the premodern history of Islam. All of this began, of course, with the Revelation of the Prophet and the political turmoil that this event generated within pre-Islamic Arabia. For the purposes of this opening historical overview, then, it is important to examine the politics surrounding the emergence of the early Islamic community and the social and political forces that helped to shape the religion’s dramatic expansion. This chapter will also examine the early caliphate and the rise and fall of subsequent dynasties: the Umayyad, the Abbasid, and the so-called “gunpowder” empires. Subsequent chapters – particularly Chapters 6 and 7 – will pick up on this narrative and examine the continuing evolution of the politics and governing structures common to the Muslim world. The historical background provided here is, then, important because it helps to put the subsequent chapters into context, and also because it offers a glimpse into a fascinating – and truly momentous – period in human history.
Pre-Islamic Arabia: Culture, Commerce, and Contexts
Islam emerged in Arabia – the vast and desolate peninsula of Southwest Asia. However, to speak of Arabia without discussing the entire region to which it belongs is not to say much. Today, in the West, we refer to this region as the Middle East or the Near East. Situated at the center of the three major continents of the so-called “Old World” – what we know as Africa, Asia, and Europe – the Near East was, and in many ways remains, the nexus of civilization. The peoples of this region have been witness to many civilizations of varying climes. But, of course, the region also produced what we consider to be the “first” civilizations.
Egypt and Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) constitute the space where the first elements considered to be essential to “civilization” emerged: law, statehood, religious doctrines and symbols, as well as arts, crafts, textile production, and other things relevant to material life. From the laws of Hammurabi in Mesopotamia to the pyramids of the Egyptian pharaohs, the peoples and rulers of these two lands sought to create permanent structures that would provide stable political and social orders. In doing so they fostered an environment that allowed for the development of an advanced culture.
It does this region little justice to summarize its long history in just a few paragraphs. However, one can say that what distinguished Mesopotamian and Egyptian life from other forms was the emergence of an “urban” life, as we may call it. That is, the peoples of these civilizations inhabited areas of concentrated settlement. They did not live as nomads, although many others still did. We call this type of lifestyle “sedentary,” as opposed to the pastoral or nomadic. Moreover, the relationship between sedentary and nomadic peoples is one of the major themes in Near Eastern history up until very recent times.
Nomads or pastoralists, generally speaking, continuously moved between areas in order to feed their domesticated animals (such as sheep or camels). This type of lifestyle was not conducive to the accumulation of large amounts of surplus goods: the less you possessed, the lighter and quicker on your feet you remained. Sedentary populations, on the other hand, remained in one place, which made the accumulation of surplus goods not only possible, but desirable. Thus, with time, we begin to see class distinctions emerge among urban populations. Classes were often regarded as “castes” necessary for social life. The world was made of peasants, artisans, merchants, religious scribes, and rulers; and the complementarity of their roles produced social life. It is difficult to conceive of art, textiles, or market-type trade outside of urbanized life.
Whereas sedentary peoples produced the items natural to a settled life, organizing them under the auspices of “the state,” nomads were more independent of hierarchal structures. They were more egalitarian. But, more importantly for our purposes, their mobile lifestyle and excellent riding skills made them apt warriors. At times nomads needed the urban market to sell whatever excess milk, meat, or fur they may have produced. At other times they would invade the cities, which were not well equipped either culturally or temperamentally to fight off the invaders. During such periods the nomads would establish themselves as the new rulers, would strike new coins in their own names, would establish new dynasties, and would patronize new arts. In short, they would become settled and, in time, as they lost touch with their pastoral roots, a new confederation of tribes would invade them – and the process would start all over again.
Islam was brought to the people of Arabia in the 7th century by a man named Muhammad ibn Abdullah. We will present his life in the following chapter; just now we will discuss Arabia’s relation to the region during his period. At the time of Muhammad’s birth Arabia was a peninsula peopled largely by nomads and located just south of two major empires characterized by a sophisticated urban life. To the northwest lay the Byzantine Empire, with its capital in Constantinople. Christian by religion and Greek in culture, this empire rivaled the Sassanian Empire to the east. The Sassanian (or Persian) Empire, in its turn, was centered around the Iranian Plateau; its capital Ctesiphon was in present-day Iraq. It had a Zoroastrian religion and was Persian in culture. In between the two lies the region known as the Fertile Crescent. Semitic peoples who spoke Aramaic and Arabic and gravitated politically toward one empire or the other largely inhabited this area. The populations of the Fertile Crescent were predominantly Christian (interspersed with some pockets of Jews); but, importantly, their interpretation of Christianity was at odds with Byzantine orthodoxy. Hence, at times they were persecuted by the state for holding heterodox views. Lastly, the Arabs of Arabia (obviously a Semitic population in terms of their linguistic heritage) were for the most part pagan, living among other Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians.
The rise of Islam must be seen against this backdrop. The Arabs were aware of monotheistic traditions; many of them even subscribed to Judaism or Christianity. But most of them were pagans. They identified in the cosmos the irreversible flow of time, of which they had an essentially atheistic–agnostic conception. Yet within this view of time the various Arab tribes expressed fidelity to a whole host of different gods and deities, which were represented by statues and by various natural objects like the stars or the moon. The polytheistic practices of the Arabs corresponded to the tribal politics of Arabian society, wherein many tribes felt beholden only to their own divine symbols and felt at odds with other tribes. With the rise of Islam, the Arabs were able to transcend their tribal differences and formed a confederation based on a unified message and goal.
As mentioned earlier, the relationship between nomadic forms of life and settlements is one of the great themes in Near Eastern history. And in many ways the Islamic conquests exemplify this theme. With a newfound unity and the confidence of faith, the Arabs came out of the desert and conquered the settled lands of the Fertile Crescent. And, although they certainly did not spread their faith by the sword (in fact it is against Islamic law to compel others in matters of conscience), the establishment of the Islamic polity, what would become the seed of Islamic civilization, was done through the might and skill of Arab tribesmen. Since this is only a brief overview of the historical context, let us examine the early caliphate period and some of the major themes of the early Islamic conquests.
The Early Caliphates and the Spread of Islam
As will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter, Prophet Muhammad received a series of revelations that would ultimately come to form the teachings of the central Islamic holy text, the Qurʾan. A group of converts to the new religion formed around the Prophet and his teachings. Many of the earliest converts were Muhammad’s kin or other members of his tribe, the Quraysh. His revelation, as will be discussed later, was perceived as threatening to the existing social order, and, as a result of the subsequent persecution, the early Muslim community was forced to relocate in Medina (originally Yathrib). It was there that the community was able to create an early Islamic state, or political order, with Muhammad at its head. At this point Muhammad not only acted as a prophet but, to use Montgomery Watt’s (1961) words, he became a statesman. After the defeat of Muhammad’s former rivals in Mecca, the Islamic community began a process of expansion that would ultimately take the message of Islam to the far corners of the world.
By the time of the Prophet’s death in 632 CE, all of Arabia had heard of him. A large part of its population was paying tribute to Medina, and a substantial part was under its direct rule. More to the point, the early Muslim community had made incursions to the north against the outposts of the Byzantine Empire in the desert. It is in this context that Abu Bakr succeeded the Prophet as the head of both the religious and the political community and came to be known as the first “caliph” (khalīfah, “successor”). There is much to be said about how Abu Bakr succeeded Muhammad, but for now we will focus our sights on the administration of the Arabs under his rule. First, Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s best friend, was concerned with the phenomenon of riddah (“relapse,” “apostasy”) and engaged in a series of Wars of Apostasy – the Ridda Wars (632–633). Some of the Arab tribes no longer felt obligated to remain united with the new Islamic polity after Muhammad’s death. Abu Bakr felt that these defections were a threat to the monotheism of Islam and would pull the Arabs back into a state of ignorance. Se he chose to fight them with vigor. Once he succeeded in defeating the defecting tribes, he made other administrative decisions, which would affect the entire region.
North of Arabia lay the provinces of the two empires mentioned above, which had just spent decades at war with each other: the Byzantine Empire had just wrestled back its provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from the Persian Empire of the Sassanians. Abu Bakr sent two armies, one to Syria and the other to Iraq, but was not able to see their success; this was to be his successor’s privilege. Before his death, Abu Bakr appointed Umar to succeed him as second caliph. Umar ruled from 634 to 644 CE. His tenure is known, in part, for the fact that he established institutions that greatly affected the direction of the new Islamic Empire and the religion itself, both its Sunni and Shiʿi branch. Umar’s first order of business was to send reinforcements to the Muslims fighting in Syria; these reinforcements met the Byzantine troups at the Yarmuk River (636 CE) in the Jordan Valley and routed them, leaving the province of Syria open to the Muslim army. The other decisive battle occurred in the same year on the Persian front, at Qadissiyya; not only did it result in a crushing defeat of the Persians, but it also marked the beginning of the decay and fall of the Sassanian Empire. It was also under Umar that Muslim forces were able to penetrate North Africa; the conquest of Egypt occurred in 640/1 CE.
A number of very important institutions were created during Umar’s reign. The first of these was the misr (plural amsar), a type of military encampment or settlement built in a newly conquered province. The most important amsar were Fustat (the future Cairo) in Egypt and Kufa and Basra in Iraq. These areas housed the governor and the military. Each misr was divided into quarters that hosted different tribes – not only the fighting men, but also their women and children. Amsar were staging areas for further conquests.
The next notable institution related to Umar’s name was that of the diwan (“registry”), which organized the division of spoils. In view of the large amounts of booty taken from the newly conquered lands, Umar sought to create a system whereby the state would give a monthly stipend to its members. The state also patronized notables and relatives of the Prophet. Following his example, Umar continued the practice of having the state receive one fifth of the spoils for the purpose of sustaining the poor and of providing similar services. Umar’s rule was brought to an abrupt end when he was stabbed by a disgruntled Persian slave. However, before he died, Umar instituted the elective council (Shura) from which the next caliph was to be chosen. The council was made up of six members, all of whom were early converts: ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, Uthman ibn Affan, Talhah ibn Abdallah, al-Zubayr ibn Awwam, Saʾd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf. The last member removed himself from the ranks of potential caliphs and was given the privilege of being the “king-maker”; eventually he chose Uthman ibn Affan.
Uthman ruled from 644 to 656 CE. It was during his reign that the standardization of the Qurʾan took place. The vast majority of the early Islamic conquests were completed under the caliphates of Umar and Uthman. By the end of Uthman’s reign Muslims ruled over the whole of the former Sassanian Empire, had pushed the Byzantines into Anatolia, and had spread across all of North Africa (see Map 2.1). The quick and impressive defeats of the Byzantine and Sassanian Empire by the Arabs have been the subject of great historical interest. Some of this success was facilitated by the ethnic and cultural proximity between the Arabs of Arabia and those of Iraq and Syria. In addition, Muslim attitudes toward Jews and Christians played an important role. Whereas Nestorian and monophysite Christians, not to mention Jews, were subject to discrimination by the Byzantine state, Islamic doctrine was much more tolerant in this respect. So long as dhimmi – the people of the dhimma, that is, protected non-Muslim religious communities – paid their required taxes, they were free to practice their faiths freely, and, above all, the state did not interfere with their religious doctrines.
After being assassinated by disgruntled troops from the provinces, Uthman was succeeded by ʿAli, the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. The confrontation, and the assassination, set the stage for the first Civil War (fitna). ʿAli’s reign as fourth caliph lasted from 656 to 661 CE, and encompassed the whole period of that civil war. ʿAli’s first order of business was to try to reconcile the various contending factions. Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan demanded nonetheless that the killers of his cousin Uthman be brought to justice. The tension between Muʾawiya’s clan and ʿAli’s clan plays an important part in early Islamic history and will be addressed at greater length in subsequent chapters. But, in short, the Umayyads represented the traditional elites of the Quraysh in Mecca, while ʿAli’s clan, the Hashim, was the clan of the Prophet. It is worth noting that the Umayyads were for a long time Islam’s most bitter opponents. In the meanwhile, before ʿAli could go to Syria to face Muʾawiya, he was told that two of the men from the Shura, Talha and al-Zubayr, and a widow of the Prophet, Aisha, were on their way to Basra to contest ʿAli as well. ʿAli left for Iraq and arrived in Kufa; in this way Medina lost its status as a capital for ever.
The issues of the first Civil War centered on leadership of the community: Who has the right to elect the caliph? When someone has been elected, do the people have a right to remove the caliph if he becomes corrupt – and, if so, how? The first issue was decided by the power struggles that ensued during the Civil War; but the second was never resolved. We will expand upon this topic in greater detail later, because it will enlighten us as to the foundation of the Sunni–Shiʿa split within Islam. For the purpose of our basic history, though, it is sufficient to note here that a series of events ensued that saw the assassination of ʿAli, the rightful caliph, and the rise of Muʾawiya, the powerful governor of Syria, as the new caliph. From this point on the caliphate would be forever changed and turned into dynastic rule. The first of the dynasties to be mentioned is that of the Umayyads.
The Umayyad Dynasty
Below you will find a list of the most important members of the Umayyad Dynasty, their accomplishments, and important events that occurred during their reign. The first of these is of course Muʾawiya, who ruled from 660 to 680 CE. He was the founder of the Sufyanid branch of the dynasty, which only lasted until the death of his grandson in 683. Muʾawiya brought stability to the empire and set a number of precedents in the winter and summer campaigns against the Byzantines. He moved the capital to Damascus and re-administered the two amsar in Iraq, Kufa and Basra. Muʾawiya was followed by his son Yazid (r. 680–683). The most important event during Yazid’s reign was the ill-fated rebellion of al-Husayn ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet’s grandson. Husayn was asked by the Kufans to come to Iraq and lead their campaign against Yazid. However, as Husayn was traveling through present-day Iraq, he and his supporters were intercepted by Yazid’s governor at a place called Karbala. Facing greater numbers and receiving no aid from the Kufans, Husayn and his family stood their ground, but they were defeated after a day of fighting and subsequently massacred by the superior forces. The head of the Prophet’s grandson was subsequently taken to Yazid, in a show of defiance. This battle and the subsequent events became a very important incident in the history of Islam, especially for the Shiʿa. The rebellion and its crushing are imbued with theological significance, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5.
Map 2.1 The spread of Islam.
After Yazid’s death in 683, his son succeeded him as Muʾawiya II. There are some disagreements as to how long Muʾ
