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156-593: Generations of scholars in Islamic studies, most of whom studied with Orientalist mentors, helped bridge the gap between Orientalism and Religious studies. The subfield that grew out of this effort is called "Islamic studies." The study of Islam is part of a tradition that started in Western academia on a professional scale about two centuries ago, and has been previously linked to social concern. This academic tradition has not only led to an accumulation of knowledge, even if some of it

312-401: A Muslim Agricultural Revolution ) and the arts and sciences (considered a Muslim Scientific Revolution ) also prospered under Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur (ruled 754–775), Harun al-Rashid (ruled 786–809), al-Ma'mun (ruled 809–813) and their immediate successors. Many non-Muslims, such as Christians , Jews and Sabians , contributed to the Islamic civilization in various fields, and

468-523: A contentious matter of debate, which has been extensively discussed both among Muslim scholars and Non-Muslim scholars within the academic field of Islamic studies . Various authors, Islamic activists, and historians of Islam have proposed several understandings of Muhammad's intent and ambitions regarding his religio-political mission in the context of the pre-Islamic Arabian society and the founding of his own religion: Was it in Muhammad's mind to produce

624-575: A court to rival that of Constantinople . He expanded the frontiers of the empire, reaching the edge of Constantinople at one point, though the Byzantines drove him back and he was unable to hold any territory in Anatolia . Sunni Muslims credit him with saving the fledgling Muslim nation from post- civil war anarchy. However, Shia Muslims accuse him of instigating the war, weakening the Muslim nation by dividing

780-508: A critical history of that scholarly tradition. In contrast, the term has also been used by some modern scholars to refer to writers of the colonial era who had pro-Eastern attitudes, as opposed to those who saw nothing of value in non-Western cultures. Like the term Orient , Orientalism is a term that derives from the Latin word oriens (rising) and, equally likely, from the Greek word ('he'oros',

936-672: A great portion of the Turkic groups, and several of the princes in India were Shia. The political unity of Islam began to disintegrate. Under the influence of the Abbasid caliphs, independent dynasties appeared in the Muslim world and the caliphs recognized such dynasties as legitimately Muslim. The first was the Tahirids in Khorasan , which was founded during the caliph Al-Ma'mun 's reign. Similar dynasties included

1092-529: A justification for the emancipation of science and philosophy from official Ash'ari theology; thus, Averroism has been considered a precursor to modern secularism . Early Middle Ages According to Arab sources in the year 750, Al-Saffah , the founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, launched a massive rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate from the province of Khurasan near Talas. After eliminating

1248-540: A number of cultures , philosophies, central teachings and bodies of esoteric knowledge . Kalām emerged as a discipline in response to political disputes among Muslims, and then later in response to the impact of Hellenistic philosophy and the expansion of the Islamic Empire into territories previously dominated and occupied by the Sassanian and Byzantine Empires. Thus, one of the first and persistent questions challenging

1404-505: A number of the proponents of contemporary da'wah activity in the West trace their inspiration to the prophet himself, claiming that he initiated a worldwide missionary program in which they are the most recent participants. [...] Despite the claims of these and other writers, it is difficult to prove that Muhammad intended to found a world-encompassing faith superseding the religions of Christianity and Judaism . His original aim appears to have been

1560-758: A period. Weakened by the civil wars, the Umayyad lost supremacy at sea, and had to abandon the islands of Rhodes and Crete . Under the rule of Yazid I , some Muslims in Kufa began to think that if Husayn ibn Ali the descendant of Muhammad was their ruler, he would have been more just. He was invited to Kufa but was later betrayed and killed. Imam Husain's son, Imam Ali ibn Husain , was imprisoned along with Husain's sister and other ladies left in Karbala war. Due to opposition by public they were later released and allowed to go to their native place Medina. One Imam after another continued in

1716-495: A setting for important archaeological finds, most of which were then bought back to Europe, and they put Orientalists in the public spotlight as never before. The first serious European studies of Buddhism and Hinduism were by the scholars Eugene Burnouf and Max Müller . The academic study of Islam also developed, and by the mid-19th century, Oriental studies had become a well-established academic discipline in most European countries, especially those with imperial interests in

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1872-446: A short time in 744, before he abdicated. Marwan II ruled from 744 until he was killed in 750. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus. Marwan named his two sons Ubaydallah and Abdallah heirs. He appointed governors and asserted his authority by force. Anti-Umayyad feeling was very prevalent, especially in Iran and Iraq. The Abbasids had gained much support. Marwan's reign as caliph

2028-564: A successful military campaign known as the Ridda wars , whose momentum was carried into the lands of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. By the end of the reign of the second caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb , the Arab Muslim armies, whose battle-hardened ranks were now swelled by the defeated rebels and former imperial auxiliary troops, invaded the eastern Byzantine provinces of Syria and Egypt , while

2184-409: A topic of modern scholarship (as opposed to a Christological heresy ) was within the context of 19th-century Christian European Oriental studies . Examining and understanding this kind of Islam – a heterogeneous living tradition with some non-discursive elements, which is internally extremely dynamic and multifaceted – is the purview of Islamic studies in the modern world. In the years 1821 to 1850,

2340-416: A world religion or did his interests lie mainly within the confines of his homeland? Was he solely an Arab nationalist —a political genius intent upon uniting the proliferation of tribal clans under the banner of a new religion—or was his vision a truly international one, encompassing a desire to produce a reformed humanity in the midst of a new world order? These questions are not without significance, for

2496-404: Is almost forgotten or badly neglected, but has also witnessed major changes in interests, questions, methods, aesthetics, and ethics of Islam. Many academic Islamic studies programs include the historical study of Islam , Islamic civilization , history of the Muslim world , historiography , Islamic law , Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy . Specialists in Islamic studies concentrate on

2652-515: Is due to the fact that early Islam forbade the painting of human beings, especially the Prophet , as Muslims believe this tempts followers of the Prophet to idolatry . This prohibition against human beings or icons is called aniconism . Despite such a prohibition, depictions of human beings do occur in Islamic art, such as that of the Mughals , demonstrating a strong diversity in popular interpretation over

2808-451: Is interpreted to refer to the study of the East by Westerners who are shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the 18th and the 19th centuries. When used in that sense, the term often implies prejudiced outsider-caricatured interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. That viewpoint was most famously articulated and propagated by Edward Said in his Orientalism (1978),

2964-602: Is partly since the Abrahamic religions in Europe (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) originated in the Middle East and because of the rise of Islam in the 7th century. Consequently, there was much interest in the origin of those faiths and of Western culture in general. Learning from medieval Arabic medicine and philosophy and the Greek translations to Arabic was an important factor in

3120-481: Is perceived as obstructing changes in departmental structures to reflect actual patterns of modern scholarship. In many universities, like the University of Chicago , the faculties and institutions have been divided. The Biblical languages may be linked with theological institutes, and the study of ancient civilizations in the region may come under a different faculty from that of the studies of modern periods. In 1970,

3276-671: The Studia Linguarum , existed sporadically throughout the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance of the 12th century witnessed a particular growth in translations of Arabic and Greek texts into Latin , with figures like Constantine the African , who translated 37 books, mostly medical texts, from Arabic to Latin, and Herman of Carinthia , one of the translators of the Qur'an . The earliest translation of

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3432-449: The Age of Exploration , European interest in mapping Asia , especially the sea routes, became intense, but most was pursued outside the universities. University Oriental studies became systematic during the Renaissance , with the linguistic and religious aspects initially continuing to dominate. There was also a political dimension, as translations for diplomatic purposes were needed even before

3588-555: The Asiatic mode of production as unchanging because of the economic narrowness of village economies and the state's role in production. Oriental despotism was generally regarded in Europe as a major factor in the relative failure of progress of Eastern societies. The study of Islam was particularly central to the field since most people living in the geographical area that was termed as the Orient were Muslims. The interest in understanding Islam

3744-819: The Banu Qays Arabs against Yemenis and non-Arab Muslims , and Yazid received further support from the Qadariya and Murji'iya (believers in human free will ). Walid was shortly thereafter deposed in a coup . Yazid disbursed funds from the treasury and acceded to the Caliph. He explained that he had rebelled on behalf of the Book of God and the Sunna. Yazid reigned for only six months, while various groups refused allegiance and dissident movements arose, after which he died. Ibrahim ibn al-Walid , named heir apparent by his brother Yazid III, ruled for

3900-571: The Battle of Tours ). In the east, Islamic armies under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim made it as far as the Indus Valley . Under Al-Walid, the caliphate empire stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to India. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf played a crucial role in the organization and selection of military commanders. Al-Walid paid great attention to the expansion of an organized military, building the strongest navy in

4056-730: The Berber Revolt . He was also faced with a revolt by Zayd ibn Ali . Hisham suppressed both revolts. The Abbasids continued to gain power in Khurasan and Iraq. However, they were not strong enough to make a move yet. Some were caught and punished or executed by eastern governors. The Battle of Akroinon , a decisive Byzantine victory, was during the final campaign of the Umayyad dynasty. Hisham died in 743. Al-Walid II saw political intrigue during his reign. Yazid III spoke out against his cousin Walid's "immorality" which included discrimination on behalf of

4212-467: The Byzantine Empire ) also existed. Each wanted the capital of the newly established Islamic empire to be in their area. As ʿUthmān became very old, Marwan I , a relative of Muawiyah slipped into the vacuum, becoming his secretary and slowly assuming more control. When ʿUthmān was assassinated in 656 CE, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib , cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, assumed the position of caliph and moved

4368-641: The Caliphate of Córdoba , which lasted until 1031 before falling due to the Fitna of al-Andalus . The Bayt al-mal, the Welfare State then continued under the Abbasids. At its largest extent, the Umayyad dynasty covered more than 5,000,000 square miles (13,000,000 km ) making it one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, and the fifth largest contiguous empire ever. Muawiyah beautified Damascus, and developed

4524-692: The Council of Vienne (1312). There was a vague but increasing knowledge of the complex civilisations of China and of India from which luxury goods (notably cotton and silk textiles as well as ceramics ) were imported. Although the Crusades produced relatively little in the way of scholarly interchange, the eruption of the Mongol Empire had strategic implications for the Crusader kingdoms and for Europe itself, which led to extended diplomatic contacts . During

4680-523: The Day of Ashura . Political unrest called the second Muslim civil war (the "Second Fitna") continued, but Muslim rule was extended under Muawiyah I to Rhodes , Crete , Kabul , Bukhara , and Samarkand , and expanded into North Africa . In 664 CE, Arab Muslim armies conquered Kabul , and in 665 CE pushed further into the Maghreb . The Umayyad dynasty (or Ommiads), whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams ,

4836-546: The Fatimids , Seljuks , Ayyubids , and Mamluks were among the most influential powers in the world. Highly Persianized empires built by the Samanids , Ghaznavids , and Ghurids significantly contributed to technological and administrative developments. The Islamic Golden Age gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable polymaths , astronomers , mathematicians , physicians , and philosophers during

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4992-562: The Fourth Fitna . Al-Ma'mun 's general Tahir ibn Husayn took Baghdad , executing Al-Amin. The war led to a loss of prestige for the dynasty. The Abbasids soon became caught in a three-way rivalry among Coptic Arabs, Indo-Persians , and immigrant Turks. In addition, the cost of running a large empire became too great. The Turks, Egyptians, and Arabs adhered to the Sunnite sect; the Persians,

5148-519: The Maghreb (north-west Africa), the Sahel , the Swahili Coast , Somalia , southern Iberia ( al-Andalus ), Transoxania ( Central Asia ), Hindustan (including modern-day North India , Bangladesh , and Pakistan ), and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey ). It is necessarily an approximation, since rule over some regions was sometimes divided among different centers of power, and authority in larger polities

5304-634: The Middle Ages . By the early 13th century, the Delhi Sultanate conquered the northern Indian subcontinent , while Turkic dynasties like the Sultanate of Rum and Artuqids conquered much of Anatolia from the Byzantine Empire throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. In the 13th and 14th centuries, destructive Mongol invasions , along with the loss of population due to the Black Death , greatly weakened

5460-438: The Middle Ages . Linguistic knowledge preceded a wider study of cultures and history, and as Europe began to expand its influence in the region, political, and economic factors, that encouraged growth in its academic study. In the late 18th century, archaeology became a link from the discipline to a wide European public, as artefacts brought back through a variety of means went on display in museums throughout Europe. Modern study

5616-535: The Middle East and other areas that are or have been part of, or influenced by, Islamic culture, such as Hebrew , Turkish , Persian , Urdu , Azerbaijanian and Uzbek . Islamic architecture is the entire range of architecture that has evolved within Muslim culture in the course of the history of Islam . Hence the term encompasses religious buildings as well as secular ones, historic as well as modern expressions and

5772-467: The Muslim conquests in the 7th century established a sharp opposition or even a sense of polarity in the Middle Ages between European Christendom and the Islamic world , which stretched from the Middle East and Central Asia to North Africa and Andalusia . Popular medieval European knowledge of cultures farther east was poor and depended on the widely-fictionalized travels of Sir John Mandeville and

5928-467: The Persian Gulf . There was also a yearning for a more "spiritual form of religion", and "the choice of religion increasingly became an individual rather than a collective issue." While some Arabs were reluctant to convert to a foreign faith, those Abrahamic religions provided "the principal intellectual and spiritual reference points", and Jewish and Christian loanwords from Aramaic began to replace

6084-570: The Reconquista . Nonetheless, in the early modern period , the gunpowder empires —the Ottomans , Timurids , Mughals , and Safavids —emerged as world powers. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the Muslim world fell under the influence or direct control of the European Great Powers . Some of their efforts to win independence and build modern nation-states over the course of

6240-1055: The Royal Asiatic Society in England, the Société Asiatique in France, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in Germany, and the American Oriental Society in the United States were founded. In the second half of the 19th century, philological and historical approaches were predominant. Leading in the field were German researchers like Theodore Nöldeke   with his History of the Quran , and Ignaz Goldziher  's work on hadith ( Muslim Studies ). Orientalists and Islamic scholars alike preferred to interpret

6396-462: The Saffarids , Samanids , Ghaznavids and Seljuqs . During this time, advancements were made in the areas of astronomy, poetry, philosophy, science, and mathematics. Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into

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6552-776: The Samanid Empire . In Persia the Ghaznavids snatched power from the Abbasids. Abbasid influence had been consumed by the Great Seljuq Empire (a Muslim Turkish clan which had migrated into mainland Persia) by 1055. Two other Turkish tribes, the Karahanids and the Seljuks , converted to Islam during the 10th century. Later, they were subdued by the Ottomans, who share the same origin and language. The Seljuks played an important role in

6708-522: The Umayyad dynasty . After Muhammad's death, Abū Bakr , one of his closest associates, was chosen as the first caliph ("successor"). Although the office of caliph retained an aura of religious authority, it laid no claim to prophecy. A number of tribal Arab leaders refused to extend the agreements made with Muhammad to Abū Bakr, ceasing payments of the alms levy and in some cases claiming to be prophets in their own right. Abū Bakr asserted his authority in

6864-526: The Ummah , fabricating self-aggrandizing heresies slandering the Prophet 's family and even selling his Muslim critics into slavery in the Byzantine empire. One of Muawiyah's most controversial and enduring legacies was his decision to designate his son Yazid as his successor. According to Shi'a doctrine, this was a clear violation of the treaty he made with Hasan ibn Ali. In 682, Yazid restored Uqba ibn Nafi as

7020-434: The University of Exeter , University of Oxford , University of Leeds , SOAS at the University of London , Yale University and several universities in Holland and Germany (notably Leiden University and Tübingen University ). A recent HEFCE report emphasises the increasing, strategic importance for Western governments since 9/11 of Islamic studies in higher education and also provides an international overview of

7176-424: The angel Gabriel , which would later form the Quran . These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict monotheistic faith , as the final expression of Biblical prophetism earlier codified in the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending Judgement Day ; and to castigate social injustices of his city. Muhammad's message won over a handful of followers (the ṣaḥāba ) and

7332-430: The compilation of the Quran was finished some time between 650 and 656 CE, and copies were sent out to the different centers of the expanding Islamic empire. After Muhammad's death, the old tribal differences between the Arabs started to resurface. Following the Roman–Persian wars and the Byzantine-Sasanian wars , deep-rooted differences between Iraq (formerly under the Sasanian Empire ) and Syria (formerly under

7488-484: The divisions of the world theologically would form. These trends would continue into the Fatimid and Ayyubid periods. Politically, the Abbasid Caliphate evolved into an Islamic monarchy ( unitary system of government .) The regional Sultanate and Emirate governors' existence, validity, or legality were acknowledged for unity of the state. In the early Islamic philosophy of the Iberian Umayyads , Averroes presented an argument in The Decisive Treatise , providing

7644-447: The kinship -based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. Islamic ecumenism , promoted by the Abbasids, refers to the idea of unity of the Ummah in the literal meaning: that there was a single faith. Islamic philosophy developed as the Shariah was codified, and the four Madhabs were established. This era also saw the rise of classical Sufism . Religious achievements included completion of

7800-437: The political , social , economic , military , and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization . Most historians believe that Islam originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abrahamic prophets , such as Adam , Noah , Abraham , Moses , David , Solomon , and Jesus , with

7956-411: The "West" and the "East" was crystalized by the Greco-Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, when Athenian historians made a distinction between their " Athenian democracy " and the Persian monarchy. An institutional distinction between East and West did not exist as a defined polarity before the Oriens - and Occidens -divided administration of Roman Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century AD, and

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8112-509: The 1570s. In France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert initiated a training programme for Les jeunes de langues (The Youth of Languages), young linguists in the diplomatic service, like François Pétis de la Croix , who, like his father and his son, served as an Arabic interpreter to the King. The study of the Far East was pioneered by missionaries, especially Matteo Ricci and others during the Jesuit China missions , and missionary motives were to remain important, at least in linguistic studies. During

8268-504: The 18th century, Western scholars reached a reasonable basic level of understanding of the geography and most of the history of the region, but knowledge of the areas least accessible to Western travelers, like Japan and Tibet , and their languages remained limited. The Enlightenment thinkers characterized aspects of the pagan East as superior to the Christian West in Montesquieu 's Lettres Persanes and Voltaire 's ironic promotion of Zoroastrianism . Others, like Edward Gibbon , praised

8424-420: The Arab clan of Quraysh , which was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia. To counter the effects of anarchy (particularly raiding for booty between tribes), they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe. The polytheistic Kaaba shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination for surrounding Arabs, which

8580-477: The Arabian peninsula entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his claims of prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the alms levy to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury. The real intentions of Muhammad regarding the spread of Islam, its political undertone, and his missionary activity ( da'wah ) during his lifetime are

8736-434: The Byzantine Empire and moved on into Carthage and across to the west of North Africa. Muslim armies under Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began to conquer the Iberian Peninsula using North African Berber armies. The Visigoths of the Iberian Peninsula were defeated when the Umayyad conquered Lisbon . The Iberian Peninsula was the farthest extent of Islamic control of Europe (they were stopped at

8892-424: The Byzantine side proved decisive. The Muslims sustained heavy losses. Sulayman died suddenly in 717. Yazid II came to power on the death of Umar II. Yazid fought the Kharijites, with whom Umar had been negotiating, and killed the Kharijite leader Shawdhab. In Yazid's reign, civil wars began in different parts of the empire. Yazid expanded the Caliphate's territory into the Caucasus, before dying in 724. Inheriting

9048-469: The Caliph after the defection of a large contingent of Slavs . The Islamic currency was then made the exclusive currency in the Muslim world. He reformed agriculture and commerce. Abd al-Malik consolidated Muslim rule and extended it, made Arabic the state language, and organized a regular postal service . Al-Walid I began the next stage of Islamic conquests. Under him the early Islamic empire reached its farthest extent. He reconquered parts of Egypt from

9204-454: The Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad marked the accession of a new family to power. As the state grew, the state expenses increased. Additionally the Bayt al-mal and the Welfare State expenses to assist the Muslim and the non-Muslim poor, needy, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled, increased, the Umayyads asked the new converts (mawali) to continue paying the poll tax. The Umayyad rule, with its wealth and luxury also seemed at odds with

9360-488: The Cold War. The clash of civilizations approach involved another characteristic of Orientalist thought: the tendency to see the region as being one homogenous civilization, rather than as comprising various different and diverse cultures and strands. It was an idea that was taken on more famously by Samuel P. Huntington in his 1993 article in Foreign Affairs , "The Clash of Civilizations?" The term Orientalism has come to acquire negative connotations in some quarters and

9516-433: The Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Australian National University was renamed the Faculty of Asian Studies. In 2007, the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University was renamed the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the University of Oxford followed suit in 2022, also renaming the former Faculty of Oriental Studies as the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies . Elsewhere, names have remained

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9672-407: The Fatimids had conquered Abbasid Egypt, building a capital there in 973 called " al-Qahirah " (meaning "the planet of victory", known today as Cairo ). During its decline, the Abbasid Caliphate disintegrated into minor states and dynasties, such as the Tulunid and the Ghaznavid dynasty . The Ghaznavid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty established by Turkic slave-soldiers from another Islamic empire,

9828-467: The Islamic community was the status of a believer who committed grave sins. The term “Islamic law” would in itself be an example of such a holistic merging of two spheres, conflating a person’s faith with his rights, or even three, if “law” is seen as a natural aspect of state politics that in a modern differentiated system should not be separated from religion, in its institutions and its rules. Islamic jurisprudence relates to everyday and social issues in

9984-494: The Islamic faith and mosques, separated by doctrine, history, and practice, were pushed to cooperate. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking the Umayyads' moral character and administration. According to Ira Lapidus , "The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali ". The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali , who remained outside

10140-460: The Islamic message preached by Muhammad. All this increased discontent. The descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib rallied discontented mawali , poor Arabs, and some Shi'a against the Umayyads and overthrew them with the help of the general Abu Muslim , inaugurating the Abbasid dynasty in 750, which moved the capital to Baghdad . A branch of the Ummayad family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established

10296-402: The Jewish Yahweh and the Christian Jehovah ." In their view, Mecca was originally dedicated to this monotheistic faith that they considered to be the one true religion, established by the patriarch Abraham . According to the traditional account , the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca , an important caravan trading center, around the year 570 CE. His family belonged to

10452-423: The Levant , Egypt , and North Africa . Alongside the growth of the Umayyad Caliphate , the major political development within early Islam in this period was the sectarian split and political divide between Kharijite , Sunnī , and Shīʿa Muslims ; this had its roots in a dispute over the succession for the role of caliph. Sunnīs believed the caliph was elective and any Muslim from the Arab clan of Quraysh ,

10608-562: The Masts in 655 CE, opening up the Mediterranean Sea to Muslim ships. Early Muslim armies stayed in encampments away from cities because ʿUmar feared that they may get attracted to wealth and luxury, moving away from the worship of God, accumulating wealth and establishing dynasties. Staying in these encampments away from the cities also ensured that there was no stress on the local populations which could remain autonomous. Some of these encampments later grew into cities like Basra and Kufa in Iraq and Fustat in Egypt. When ʿUmar

10764-405: The Muslim community during the Rashidun Caliphate . The early Muslim conquests were responsible for the spread of Islam . By the 8th century CE, the Umayyad Caliphate extended from Iberian Al-Andalus in the west to the Indus River in the east. Polities such as those ruled by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates (in the Middle East and later in Spain and Southern Italy ),

10920-535: The Qur'an into Latin was completed in 1143, but little use was made of it until it was printed in 1543. It was later translated into other European languages . Gerard of Cremona and others based themselves in Andalusia to take advantage of its Arabic libraries and scholars. However, as the Christian Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula began to accelerate in the 11th century, such contacts became rarer in Spain. Chairs of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic were briefly established at Oxford and in four other universities after

11076-411: The Sasanids lost their western territories , with the rest of Persia to follow soon afterwards. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb improved the administration of the fledgling Islamic empire, ordering improvement of irrigation networks, and playing a role in foundation of cities like Basra . To be close to the poor, he lived in a simple mud hut without doors and walked the streets every evening. After consulting with

11232-540: The Sufi (one who practices Sufism).According to Renard (2021) quoted by Green the meaning of Sufism is “a strong method of Muslim’s knowledge and practice bringing proximity to or meditation with God and believed that it came from Prophet Muhammad from generation to generation who followed him” (P.8). The etymological term Suf has mysticism to the educational notion of asceticism. The ascetics and mystics have different and separate roles in each setting, and everyone needs to search

11388-435: The Umayyad era. This tactic was crucial for the expansion to the Iberian Peninsula. His reign is considered to be the apex of Islamic power. Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik was hailed as caliph the day al-Walid died. He appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab governor of Mesopotamia . Sulayman ordered the arrest and execution of the family of al-Hajjaj , one of two prominent leaders (the other was Qutayba ibn Muslim ) who had supported

11544-547: The Umayyad family had been killed by the revolting Abbasids, one family member, Abd ar-Rahman I , escaped to Spain and established an independent caliphate there in 756. In the Maghreb , Harun al-Rashid appointed the Arab Aghlabids as virtually autonomous rulers, although they continued to recognize central authority. Aghlabid rule was short-lived, and they were deposed by the Shiite Fatimid dynasty in 909. By around 960,

11700-607: The West engaged actively with the East beyond the Ottoman Empire . A landmark was the publication in Spain in 1514 of the first Polyglot Bible , containing the complete existing texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, in addition to Greek and Latin. At Cambridge University , there has been a Regius Professor of Hebrew since 1540 (the fifth-oldest regular chair there), and the university's chair in Arabic

11856-536: The area up to the Ganges river had fallen. In sub-Saharan West Africa, Islam was established just after the year 1000. Muslim rulers were in Kanem starting from sometime between 1081 and 1097, with reports of a Muslim prince at the head of Gao as early as 1009. The Islamic kingdoms associated with Mali reached prominence in the 13th century. The Abbasids developed initiatives aimed at greater Islamic unity. Different sects of

12012-448: The beginning of Islam post-date the events by several generations, al-Tabari having died in 923 CE. Differing views about how to deal with the available sources has led to the development of four different approaches to the history of early Islam. All four methods have some level of support today. Nowadays, the popularity of the different methods employed varies on the scope of the works under consideration. For overview treatments of

12168-483: The caliphate from his brother, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ruled an empire with many problems. He was effective in addressing these problems, and in allowing the Umayyad empire to continue as an entity. His long rule was an effective one, and renewed reforms introduced by Umar II. Under Hisham's rule, regular raids against the Byzantines continued. In North Africa, Kharijite teachings combined with local restlessness to produce

12324-529: The canonical collections of Hadith of Sahih Bukhari and others. Islam recognized to a certain extent the validity of the Abrahamic religions , the Quran identifying Jews , Christians , Zoroastrians , and Sabians (commonly identified with the Mandaeans ) as " people of the book ". Toward the beginning of the high Middle Ages, the doctrines of the Sunni and Shia , two major denominations of Islam , solidified and

12480-628: The capital to Kufa in Iraq. Muawiyah I, the governor of Syria, and Marwan I demanded arrest of the culprits. Marwan I manipulated every one and created conflict, which resulted in the first Muslim civil war (the "First Fitna"). ʿAlī was assassinated by the Kharijites in 661 CE. Six months later, ʿAlī's firstborn son Ḥasan made a peace treaty with Muawiyah I, in the interest of peace. In the Hasan–Muawiya treaty , Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī handed over power to Muawiyah I on

12636-633: The circum-Mediterranean culture, such as the Sinosphere and Indosphere . The Greeks , despite being former Eastern Romans and Eastern Orthodox , came to be considered “Westerners” from the 19th century onwards thanks to the Philhellenists and the London Conference of 1832 (which put a Germanic monarchy to rule the Greeks without their permission). In most North American and Australian universities,

12792-465: The city of Yathrib (now known as Medina ), where he began to unify the tribes of Arabia under Islam, returning to Mecca to take control in 630 and order the destruction of all pagan idols. By the time Muhammad died c.  11 AH (632 CE), almost all the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam, but disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of

12948-464: The collection of the jizya, or the tax on non-Muslims. Islam nearly doubled within its territory from 8% of residents in 750 to 15% by the end of Al-Mansur's reign. Al-Mahdi , whose name means "Rightly-guided" or "Redeemer", was proclaimed caliph when his father was on his deathbed. Baghdad blossomed during Al-Mahdi's reign, becoming the world's largest city. It attracted immigrants from Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Persia and as far away as India and Spain. Baghdad

13104-541: The condition that he would be just to the people and not establish a dynasty after his death. Muawiyah I subsequently broke the conditions of the agreement and established the Umayyad dynasty , with a capital in Damascus . Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī , by then Muhammad's only surviving grandson, refused to swear allegiance to the Umayyads; he was killed in the Battle of Karbala the same year, in an event still mourned by Shīʿa Muslims on

13260-546: The context of a given Sufi’s own time for reasons as to why he/she was known as a Sufi. Sufism is not that, they do not follow the Islam properly it’s just that they spend more time with God. It is an individual way of studying. It might also be referred to as Islamic mysticism. While other branches of Islam generally focus on exoteric aspects of religion, Sufism is mainly focused on the direct perception of truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism embodies

13416-521: The culture of the Arab world and of Islam is a threat to that of the West. The essence of the debate reflects a presupposition for which Orientalism has been criticized by the Orient being defined exclusively by Islam. Such considerations were seen to have occurred in the wider context of the way in which many Western scholars responded to international politics after the Cold War, and they were arguably heightened by

13572-469: The detailed, academic study of texts written in Arabic within the fields of Islamic theology , Islamic law , and the Qur'an and Hadith along with ancillary disciplines such as Tafsir or Qur'an Exegesis. However, they also often apply the methods adapted from several ancillary fields, ranging from Biblical studies and classical philology to modern history , legal history and sociology . Scholars in

13728-754: The direction of the rising sun). "Orient" is the opposite of Occident , a term for the Western Roman Empire , which later had its identity appropriated by the Barbarian Kingdoms (such as the Holy Roman Empire ). The “east” which until then was used to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire (the remaining enemies of the Germanic ) has become an umbrella term for all peoples in the world considered “non-Western”, including peoples who were not even from

13884-538: The division of the Roman Empire into portions that spoke Latin and Greek . The classical world had an intimate knowledge of its Ancient Persian neighbours (and usually enemies) but very imprecise knowledge of most of the world farther east, including the " Seres " (Chinese). However, there was a substantial direct Roman trade with India , unlike that with China, during the Roman Empire. The spread of Islam and

14040-482: The earliest periods in Islamic history is made difficult by a lack of sources. For example, the most important historiographical source for the origins of Islam is the work of al-Tabari . While al-Tabari is considered an excellent historian by the standards of his time and place, he made liberal use of mythical, legendary, stereotyped, distorted, and polemical presentations of subject matter—which are however considered to be Islamically acceptable—and his descriptions of

14196-451: The early Islamic empire. Local populations of Jews and indigenous Christians , who lived as religious minorities and were forced to pay the jizya tax under the Muslim rule in order to finance the wars with Byzantines and Sasanids, often aided Muslims to take over their lands from the Byzantines and Persians, resulting in exceptionally speedy conquests. As new areas were conquered, they also benefited from free trade with other areas of

14352-529: The elderly. When he felt that a governor or a commander was becoming attracted to wealth or did not meet the required administrative standards, he had him removed from his position. The expansion was partially halted between 638 and 639 CE during the years of great famine and plague in Arabia and the Levant, respectively, but by the end of ʿUmar's reign, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and much of Persia were incorporated into

14508-451: The end of the Cold War . It is contended that was partly a response to "a lacuna" in identity politics in international relations generally and within the 'West' particularly, which was brought about by the absence of Soviet communism as a global adversary. The end of the Cold War caused an era that has been marked by discussions of Islamist terrorism framing views on the extent to which

14664-519: The end of the Second World War . The participation in academic studies by scholars from the newly-independent nations of the region itself inevitably changed the nature of studies considerably, with the emergence of post-colonial studies and Subaltern Studies . The influence of Orientalism in the sense used by Edward Said in his book of the same name in scholarship on the Middle East was seen to have re-emerged and risen in prevalence again after

14820-447: The entire Umayyad family and achieving victory at the Battle of the Zab , Al-Saffah and his forces marched into Damascus and founded a new dynasty. His forces confronted many regional powers and consolidated the realm of the Abbasid Caliphate. In Al-Mansur 's time, Persian scholarship emerged. Many non-Arabs converted to Islam. The Umayyads actively discouraged conversion in order to continue

14976-472: The establishment of a succinctly Arab brand of monotheism , as indicated by his many references to the Qurʾān as an Arab book and by his accommodations to other monotheistic traditions. After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, his community needed to appoint a new leader, giving rise to the title of caliph ( Arabic : خَليفة , romanized :  khalīfa , lit.   'successor'). Thus,

15132-497: The exceptions of Iran and Oman . Muhammad's closest companions ( ṣaḥāba ), the four " rightly-guided " caliphs who succeeded him, continued to expand the Islamic empire to encompass Jerusalem , Ctesiphon , and Damascus , and sending Arab Muslim armies as far as the Sindh region . The early Islamic empire stretched from al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) to the Punjab region under the reign of

15288-467: The fact that sensitivity to the term "Oriental" has been heightened in a more politically correct atmosphere, although it began earlier: Bernard Lewis' own department at Princeton University was renamed a decade before Said wrote his book, a detail that Said gets wrong. By some, the term "Oriental" has come to be thought offensive to non-Westerners. Area studies that incorporate not only philological pursuits but identity politics may also account for

15444-436: The field of Islamic studies are often referred to as "Islamicists" and the discipline traditionally made up the bulk of what used to be called Oriental studies . The transitional generation of Islamicists were betwixt and between an era when Islamic studies were dominated by Orientalism and the post-Orientalist era of post-colonial criticism and critical theory in the social sciences and much of religious studies. In fact, some of

15600-484: The field of Oriental studies has now been replaced by that of Asian studies . In many cases, the field has been localised to specific regions, such as Middle Eastern or Near Eastern studies, South Asian studies, and East Asian Studies. That reflects the fact that the Orient is not a single monolithic region but rather a broad area, encompassing multiple civilizations . The generic concept of Oriental studies has to its opponents lost any use that it may have once had and

15756-521: The following results: The following timeline can serve as a rough visual guide to the most important polities in the Islamic world prior to World War I . It covers major historical centers of power and culture, including the Arabian peninsula (modern-day Oman , Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates , and Yemen ), Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ), Persia (modern-day Iran ), Levant (modern-day Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , and Israel/Palestine ), Egypt ,

15912-683: The gains of the earlier Caliphates . Initially, they conquered Mediterranean islands including the Balearics and, after, in 827 the Southern Italy . The ruling party had come to power on the wave of dissatisfaction with the Umayyads, cultivated by the Abbasid revolutionary Abu Muslim . Under the Abbasids Islamic civilization flourished. Most notable was the development of Arabic prose and poetry , termed by The Cambridge History of Islam as its " golden age ". Commerce and industry (considered

16068-645: The generation of Imam Husain but they were opposed by the Caliphs of the day as their rivals till Imam Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah came in power as first Caliph of Fatimid in North Africa when Caliphate and Imamate came to same person again after Imam Ali. These Imams were recognized by Shia Islam taking Imam Ali as first Caliph/Imam and the same is institutionalized by the Safavids and many similar institutions named now as Ismaili , Twelver , etc. The period under Muawiya II

16224-458: The governor of Syria after the previous governor died in a plague along with 25,000 other people. To stop the Byzantine harassment from the sea during the Arab–Byzantine wars , in 649 Muawiyah set up a navy, with ships crewed by Monophysite Christians , Egyptian Coptic Christians , and Jacobite Syrian Christians sailors and Muslim troops, which defeated the Byzantine navy at the Battle of

16380-618: The governor of North Africa. Uqba won battles against the Berbers and Byzantines. From there Uqba marched thousands of miles westward towards Tangier , where he reached the Atlantic coast, and then marched eastwards through the Atlas Mountains . With about 300 cavalrymen , he proceeded towards Biskra where he was ambushed by a Berber force under Kaisala. Uqba and all his men died fighting. The Berbers attacked and drove Muslims from north Africa for

16536-409: The great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph, ruled from 661 to 750 CE. Although the Umayyad family came from the city of Mecca , Damascus was the capital. After the death of Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr in 666, Muawiyah I consolidated his power. Muawiyah I moved his capital to Damascus from Medina , which led to profound changes in the empire. In the same way, at a later date, the transfer of

16692-559: The growing Islamic empire, where, to encourage commerce, taxes were applied to wealth rather than trade. The Muslims paid zakat on their wealth for the benefit of the poor. Since the Constitution of Medina , drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad , the Jews and the Christians continued to use their own laws and had their own judges. In 639 CE, ʿUmar appointed Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan as

16848-418: The hesitation to use the term "Oriental". Supporters of "Oriental Studies" counter that the term " Asian " is just as encompassing as "Oriental," and may well have originally had the same meaning, were it derived from an Akkadian word for "East" (a more common derivation is from one or both of two Anatolian proper names). Replacing one word with another is to confuse historically objectionable opinions about

17004-560: The historical, social, political, economic, and religious context of Late Antiquity in the Middle East . The second half of the 6th century CE saw political disorder in the pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula , and communication routes were no longer secure. Religious divisions played an important role in the crisis. Judaism became the dominant religion of the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen after about 380 CE, while Christianity took root in

17160-528: The history of Islam in a conservative way. They did not question the traditional account of the early time of Islam, of Muhammad and how the Quran was written. In the 1970s, the Revisionist School of Islamic Studies questioned the uncritical adherence to traditional Islamic sources and started to develop a new picture of the earliest times of Islam by applying the historical-critical method . To understand

17316-428: The history of Islam provides the indispensable basis to understand all aspects of Islam and its culture. Themes of special interest are: The history of women and gender in Islamic studies experienced a surge of scholarly research during the early 1990's. This wave of scholarship was influenced by the growing presence of politically and religiously active women scholars with Muslim and Arab backgrounds. Additionally, there

17472-407: The history of early Islam, the descriptive approach is more popular. For scholars who look at the beginnings of Islam in depth, the source critical and tradition critical methods are more often followed. After the 8th century CE, the quality of sources improves. Those sources which treated earlier times with a large temporal and cultural gap now begin to give accounts which are more contemporaneous,

17628-405: The idea of a uniform Islamic gender discourse. Following the impactful comprehensive syntheses of the early 1990's, more in-depth and context-specific studies have delved into social customs, religious beliefs, and the interplay between the two. Sufism ( تصوف taṣawwuf ) is a mystic tradition of Islam based on the pursuit of spiritual truth as it is gradually revealed to the heart and mind of

17784-501: The institution known as the House of Wisdom employed Christian and Persian scholars to both translate works into Arabic and to develop new knowledge. The capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad , due to the importance placed by the Abbasids upon eastern affairs in Persia and Transoxania . At this time the caliphate showed signs of fracture amid the rise of regional dynasties. Although

17940-698: The last two centuries continue to reverberate to the present day, as well as fuel conflict-zones in regions such as Palestine , Kashmir , Xinjiang , Chechnya , Central Africa , Bosnia , and Myanmar. The oil boom stabilized the Arab States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (comprising Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates ), making them the world's largest oil producers and exporters, which focus on capitalism , free trade , and tourism . The study of

18096-435: The legends of Prester John , but the equally-famous account by Marco Polo was much longer and was more accurate. Scholarly work was initially largely linguistic in nature, with primarily a religious focus on understanding both Biblical Hebrew and languages like Syriac with early Christian literature , but there was also a wish to understand Arabic works on medicine , philosophy , and science . That effort, also called

18252-405: The life of Muslims. It is divided in fields like: Key distinctions include those between fiqh , hadith and ijtihad . Islamic studies scholars also deal with the long and rich tradition of philosophy as developed by Muslim philosophers . It is divided in fields like: Islamic studies scholars are also active in the history and philosophy of science . Significant progress in science

18408-555: The message of the Quran from the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism. Armed conflict with the Arab Meccans and Jewish tribes of the Yathrib area soon broke out. After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to secure control of Mecca and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE. In the time remaining until his death in 632 CE, tribal chiefs across

18564-436: The more traditional Western universities still confer degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies under the primary title of "Oriental studies". This is the case, for example, at the University of Oxford , where classical Arabic and Islamic studies have been taught since as early as the 16th century, originally as a sub-division of divinity . This latter context gave early academic Islamic studies its Biblical studies character and

18720-683: The newer terms of Middle Eastern studies and Asian studies . Traditional Oriental studies in Europe is today generally focused on the discipline of Islamic studies ; the study of China , especially traditional China, is often called Sinology . The study of East Asia in general, especially in the United States , is often called East Asian studies . The European study of the region formerly known as "the Orient " had primarily religious origins, which have remained an important motivation until recent times. That

18876-409: The old pagan vocabulary of Arabic throughout the peninsula. The Ḥanīf ("renunciates"), a group of monotheists that sought to separate themselves both from the foreign Abrahamic religions and the traditional Arab polytheism , were looking for a new religious worldview to replace the pre-Islamic Arabian religions, focusing on "the all-encompassing father god Allah whom they freely equated with

19032-558: The poor, ʿUmar established the Bayt al-mal , a welfare institution for the Muslim and Non-Muslim poor, needy, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. The Bayt al-mal ran for hundreds of years under the Rāshidūn Caliphate in the 7th century CE and continued through the Umayyad period and well into the Abbasid era . ʿUmar also introduced child benefit for the children and pensions for

19188-549: The pre-modern period. Increased contact with the Western civilization may also have contributed to human depictions in Islamic art in modern times. Islamic comparative religion is the study of the relationship between Islam and other religions. Islamic economics studies how economics may be brought in accordance with Islamic law . One field of study deals with how Islam reacts on the contact with Western modernity. History of Islam The history of Islam concerns

19344-487: The production of all places that have come under the varying levels of Islamic influence. Islamic visual art has, throughout history, been mainly abstract and decorative, portraying geometric, floral, Arabesque , and calligraphic designs. Unlike the strong tradition of portraying the human figure in Christian art , Islamic art is typically distinguished as not including depictions of human beings. The lack of portraiture

19500-473: The quality of genre of available historical accounts improves, and new documentary sources—such as official documents, correspondence and poetry—appear. For the time prior to the beginning of Islam—in the 6th century CE—sources are superior as well, if still of mixed quality. In particular, the sources covering the Sasanian realm of influence in the 6th century CE are poor, while the sources for Byzantine areas at

19656-507: The region, and particularly the realization of the existence of close relations between Indian and European languages by William Jones , there emerged more complex intellectual connections between the early history of Eastern and Western cultures. Some of the developments occurred in the context of Franco–British rivalry for the control of India. Liberal economists, such as James Mill , denigrated Eastern civilizations as static and corrupt. Karl Marx , himself of Jewish origin, characterized

19812-418: The region. Although scholastic study expanded, so did racist attitudes and stereotypes of Asian peoples and cultures, however, which frequently extended to local Jewish and Romani communities since they were also of Oriental origin and widely recognized as such. Scholarship often was intertwined with prejudicial racist and religious presumptions to which the new biological sciences tended to contribute until

19968-520: The region. An archaeological team, led by Victor Place , excavated the palace of the Assyrian King Sargon II in Khorsabad (formerly Nineveh ), which was the first systematic excavation of the site. The expedition resulted in a pioneering publication, Ninevah and Assyria , which jointly authored by Victor Place and Felix Thomas and was published around 1867. New national museums provided

20124-559: The relative religious tolerance of the Middle East over what they considered the intolerant Christian West. Many, including Diderot and Voltaire, praised the high social status of scholarship in Mandarin China. The Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" (English: University of Naples "L'Orientale"), founded in Naples in 1732, is the oldest school of Sinology and Oriental Studies of Continental Europe . The late 18th century saw

20280-521: The revival of Sunnism when Shi'ism increased its influence. The Seljuk military leader Alp Arslan (1063 – 1072) financially supported sciences and literature and established the Nezamiyeh university in Baghdad. Expansion continued, sometimes by force, sometimes by peaceful proselytising . The first stage in the conquest of India began just before the year 1000. By some 200 (from 1193 to 1209) years later,

20436-511: The same, as in the Chicago , Rome , and the London (only now referred to only by the acronym "SOAS"), and in other universities . Various explanations for the change to "Asian studies" are offered; a growing number of professional scholars and students of Asian Studies are themselves Asian or from groups of Asian origin (like Asian Americans ). This change of labeling may be correlated in some cases to

20592-474: The social and political roles and rights of women over time. The work from this era sparked a significant amount of academic research in that, in the subsequent twenty years, not only expanded and detailed the arguments put forth by these scholars, but also analyzed and improved upon their methodologies. Recent years have seen a shift towards utilizing a broader range of sources and developing more intricate interpretive frameworks, some of which have even challenged

20748-414: The start of a great increase in the study of the archaeology of the period, which was to be an ever-more important aspect of the field in the next century. Egyptology led the way and, as with many other ancient cultures, provide linguists with new material for decipherment and study. With a great increase in knowledge of Asia among Western specialists, the increasing political and economic involvement in

20904-474: The state of the field. With the events of 11 September 2001, Islam has become the most prominent world religion and occupies center stage in world politics. In Islamic Studies, there is a tendency to rely on history (as method and approach) as a reassuring scientific framework. However nowadays, besides recurrent debates within history itself, many scientists look unfavorably at a linear conception of time (Rovelli 2018). The first attempt to understand Islam as

21060-510: The submission ( Islām ) to the will of God . According to the traditional account , the Islamic prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations in 610 CE, calling for submission to the one God, preparation for the imminent Last Judgement , and charity for the poor and needy. As Muhammad's message began to attract followers (the ṣaḥāba ) he also met with increasing hostility and persecution from Meccan elites . In 622 CE Muhammad migrated to

21216-494: The subsequent Islamic empires were known as " caliphates ", and a series of four caliphs governed the early Islamic empire: Abū Bakr (632–634), ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (Umar І, 634–644), ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (644–656), and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (656–661). These leaders are known as the rāshidūn ("rightly-guided") caliphs in Sunnī Islam . They oversaw the initial phase of the early Muslim conquests , advancing through Persia ,

21372-520: The succession of al-Walid's son Yazid, rather than Sulayman. Al-Hajjaj had predeceased al-Walid, so he posed no threat. Qutaibah renounced allegiance to Sulayman, though his troops rejected his appeal to revolt. They killed him and sent his head to Sulayman. Sulayman did not move to Damascus on becoming Caliph, remaining in Ramla . Sulayman sent Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik to attack the Byzantine capital ( siege of Constantinople ). The intervention of Bulgaria on

21528-461: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . Symbolic of that type of response to the end of the Cold War was the popularization of the clash of civilizations thesis. That particular idea of a fundamental conflict between East and West was first advanced by Bernard Lewis in his article "The Roots of Muslim Rage", which was written in 1990. Again, that was seen as a way of accounting for new forms and lines of division in international society after

21684-778: The time are of a respectable quality, and complemented by Syriac Christian sources for Syria and Iraq. Until the early 1970s, Non-Muslim scholars of Islamic studies—while not accepting accounts of divine intervention—did accept its origin story in most of its details. On the dates said, historians called Revisionist school of Islamic studies began to use relevant archaeology , epigraphy , numismatics and contemporary non-Arabic literature to crosscheck writings from 150 to 250 years after Muhammad. The school included scholars such as John Wansbrough and his students Andrew Rippin , Norman Calder , G. R. Hawting , Patricia Crone and Michael Cook , as well as Günter Lüling , Yehuda D. Nevo and Christoph Luxenberg . These studies yielded

21840-880: The traditional centers of the Muslim world, stretching from Persia to Egypt, but saw the emergence of the Timurid Renaissance and major economic powers such as the Mali Empire in West Africa and the Bengal Sultanate in South Asia . Following the deportation and enslavement of the Muslim Moors from the Emirate of Sicily and elsewhere in southern Italy , the Islamic Iberia was gradually conquered by Christian forces during

21996-466: The tribe of Muhammad, might serve as one. Shīʿītes, on the other hand, believed the title of caliph should be hereditary in the bloodline of Muhammad , and thus all the caliphs, with the exceptions of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and his firstborn son Ḥasan , were actually illegitimate usurpers . However, the Sunnī sect emerged as triumphant in most regions of the Muslim world , with

22152-739: Was a notable increase in the utilization of gender studies methodologies within the traditionally conservative realms of Islamic history and law. Works such as Leila Ahmed’s Women and Gender in Islam (1992), Fatima Mernissi’s The Veil and the Male Elite (first published in English in 1991, translated from a 1987 French original), and Fedwa Malti-Douglas’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Word: Gender and Discourse in Arabo-Islamic Writing (1991) surveyed large swathes of Islamic history and thought, suggesting structural connections between gendered religious discourses and

22308-419: Was a significant source of revenue for the city. Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the Ḥanīf . Like the Ḥanīf , Muhammad practiced Taḥannuth , spending time in seclusion at mount Hira and "turning away from paganism." When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine revelations delivered through

22464-410: Was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the Constitution of Medina , Muhammad began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance. The surahs of this period emphasized his place among the long line of Biblical prophets , but also differentiated

22620-412: Was almost entirely devoted to trying to keep the Umayyad empire together. His death signalled the end of Umayyad rule in the East, and was followed by the massacre of Umayyads by the Abbasids. Almost the entire Umayyad dynasty was killed, except for the talented prince Abd al-Rahman who escaped to the Iberian Peninsula and founded a dynasty there. The Abbasid dynasty rose to power in 750, consolidating

22776-440: Was also a consequence of the fact that, throughout early-modern Western Europe, the discipline was developed by churchmen whose primary aim had been to refute the tenets of Islam . Today, academic Islamic studies is usually taught and studied alongside or after an extensive study of the Arabic language, with named undergraduate and graduate degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies existing at universities such as Georgetown University ,

22932-432: Was assassinated in 644 CE, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān , second cousin and twice son-in-law of Muhammad, became the third caliph. As the Arabic language is written without vowels, speakers of different Arabic dialects and other languages recited the Quran with phonetic variations that could alter the meaning of the text. When ʿUthmān became aware of this, he ordered a standard copy of the Quran to be prepared. Begun during his reign,

23088-544: Was founded in about 1643. Oxford followed for Hebrew in 1546 (both chairs were established by Henry VIII). One distinguished scholar was Edmund Castell , who published his Lexicon Heptaglotton Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, Aethiopicum, Arabicum, et Persicum in 1669, and scholars like Edward Pococke had traveled to the East and wrote on the modern history and society of the Eastern peoples. The University of Salamanca had Professors of Oriental Languages at least in

23244-590: Was fueled partly by economic considerations of the growing trade in the Mediterranean region and by the changing cultural and intellectual climate of the time. During the course of the century, Western archeology spread across the Middle East and Asia, with spectacular results. In the 1850s, for example, the French government was determined to mount large-scale operations in Assyria and Mesopotamia to showcase its dominance in

23400-457: Was home to Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Zoroastrians, in addition to the growing Muslim population. Like his father, Al-Hadi was open to his people and allowed citizens to address him in the palace at Baghdad. He was considered an "enlightened ruler", and continued the policies of his Abbasid predecessors. His short rule was plagued by military conflicts and internal intrigue. The military conflicts subsided as Harun al-Rashid ruled. His reign

23556-449: Was influenced by imperialist attitudes and interests and by the fascination for the "exotic" East for Mediterranean and European writers and thinkers, and was captured in images by artists, which is embodied in a repeatedly-surfacing theme in the history of ideas in the West, called " Orientalism ." Since the 20th century, scholars from the region itself have participated on equal terms in the discipline. The original distinction between

23712-486: Was made in the Muslim world during the Middle Ages , especially during the Islamic Golden Age , which is considered a major period in the history of science. Scholars also study the relationship between Islam and science , for example in the application of Islamic ethics to scientific practice. This field includes the study of modern and classical Arabic and the literature written in those languages. It also often includes other modern, classic or ancient languages of

23868-463: Was marked by civil wars ( Second Fitna ). This would ease in the reign of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan , a well-educated and capable ruler. Despite the many political problems that impeded his rule, all important records were translated into Arabic. In his reign, a currency for the Muslim world was minted. This led to war with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II ( Battle of Sebastopolis ) in 692 in Asia Minor . The Byzantines were decisively defeated by

24024-440: Was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. He established the library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom"), and the arts and music flourished during his reign. The Barmakid family played a decisive advisorial role in establishing the Caliphate, but declined during Rashid's rule. Al-Amin received the Caliphate from his father Harun Al-Rashid, but failed to respect the arrangements made for his brothers, leading to

24180-417: Was met with increasing persecution from Meccan notables . In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib , Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called Medina ) where he was joined by his followers. Later generations would count this event, known as the hijra , as the start of the Islamic era. In Yathrib, where he

24336-446: Was often distributed among several dynasties. For example, during the later stages of the Abbasid Caliphate , even the capital city of Baghdad was effectively ruled by other dynasties such as the Buyyids and the Seljuks , while the Ottoman Turks commonly delegated executive authority over outlying provinces to local potentates , such as the Deys of Algiers , the Beys of Tunis , and the Mamluks of Iraq . Early Islam arose within

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