195-506: The Middle East , also known as the Near East , is home to one of the cradles of civilization and has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. The region's history started from the earliest human settlements and continues through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires to today's nation-states of the Middle East. The Sumerians , around the 5th millennium BC, were among
390-486: A cluster of contemporary Sunni renewal and reform movements inspired by the teachings of classical theologians—in particular Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE/661–728 AH). These Salafis dismiss the 19th century reformers as rationalists who failed to interpret scripture in the most literal, traditional sense. Conservative Salafis regard Syrian scholars like Rashid Rida (d. 1935 CE/ 1354 AH) and Muhibb al-Khatib (d. 1969 CE/ 1389 AH) as revivalists of Salafi thought in
585-639: A holistic conception of Islamic state and society; similar to the Wahhabi movement. Muslim Brotherhood 's Syrian leaders like Mustapha al-Siba'i and 'Isam al-'Attar were also influential in the movement and their ideas influenced numerous Jordanian students. The Damascene Salafiyya consisted of major scholarly figures like Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar al-Athari , 'Ali al-Tantawi , Nasir al-Din al-Albani , 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, Mazhar al-'Azma, al-Bashir al-Ibrahimi, Taqiy al-Din al-Hilali , Muhiy al-Din al-Qulaybi, 'Abd Allah al-Qalqayli, etc. Numerous books of
780-783: A more conservative strand of Salafiyya , which would also influence the ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt . The usage of the term " Salafiyya " to denote a theological reform movement based on the teachings of the Salaf al-Salih ; was popularised by the Syrian disciples of Tahir al-Jaza'iri who were active in Egypt during the 1900s. They opened the famous " al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya " ("The Salafi Bookshop") in Cairo in 1909. Rashid Rida co-operated with
975-556: A new power in the form of Islam grew in the Middle East. In a series of rapid Muslim conquests , Arab armies , led by the Caliphs and skilled military commanders such as Khalid ibn al-Walid , swept through most of the Middle East, taking more than half of Byzantine territory and completely engulfing the Persian lands . In Anatolia , they were stopped in the Siege of Constantinople (717–718) by
1170-538: A person adheres to it inwardly and outwardly, then he is like the believer who is following truth inwardly and outwardly." Historians and academics date the emergence of Salafiyya movement to the late 19th-century Arab world , an era when European colonial powers were dominant. Notable leaders of the movement included Jamal al-Din Qasimi (1866–1914), 'Abd al-Razzaq al Bitar (1837–1917), Tahir al-Jazai'iri (1852–1920) and Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935). Until
1365-454: A person who "supported the pure Sunna and al-Tariqa al-Salafiyah ( Salafiyah way or methodology )"; referring to his non-conformist juristic approach that was based on direct understanding of Scriptures and his practice of issuing fatwas that contradicted the madhabs . At least one scholar, Henri Lauzière, casts doubt on al-Sam'ani, claiming he "could only list two individuals—a father and his son—who were known" as al-Salafi. "Plus,
1560-474: A prevalent role in Middle Eastern culture, affecting learning, architecture, and the ebb and flow of cultures. When Muhammad introduced Islam, it jump-started Middle Eastern culture, inspiring achievements in architecture , the revival of old advances in science and technology, and the formation of a distinct way of life. Islam primarily consisted of the five pillars of belief , including confession of faith,
1755-498: A renewal of Muslim life and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world . Salafi Muslims oppose bid'a (religious innovation) and support the implementation of sharia (Islamic law). In its approach to politics , the Salafi movement is sometimes divided by Western academics and journalists into three categories: the largest group being
1950-550: A return to the Salaf , Rashid Rida emphasised the path of the first four Rightly-Guided Caliphs ( Khulafa Rashidin ) and the revival of their principles. Rida's revivalist efforts contributed to the construction of a collective imagined Salafi community operating globally, transcending national borders. For this reason, he is regarded as one of the founding pioneers of the Salafiyya movement and his ideas inspired many Islamic revivalist movements. Rashid Rida's religious approach
2145-686: A rivalry that would become known as the Great Game . Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf . He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East. He said that, beyond Egypt's Suez Canal , the Gulf was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India . Mahan first used
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#17328481244162340-763: A theology). Also important in its manhaj (Arabic: منهج i.e. Methodology) are certain legal teachings as well as forms of sociability and politics. The Salafi da'wa is a methodology, but it is not a madhhab (school) in fiqh (jurisprudence) as is commonly misunderstood. Salafis oppose taqlid to the Maliki , Shafi'i , Hanbali , Hanafi or Zahirite law schools of Sunni fiqh. The followers of Salafi school identify themselves as Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'ah and are also known as Ahl al-Hadith . The Salafiyya movement champions this early Sunni school of thought, also known as traditionalist theology . Salafis place great emphasis on practicing actions in accordance with
2535-803: A vital role in the Middle East, and they represent 40.5% of Lebanon, where the Lebanese president , half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites. There are also important minority religions like the Baháʼí Faith , Yarsanism , Yazidism , Zoroastrianism , Mandaeism , Druze , and Shabakism , and in ancient times the region was home to Mesopotamian religions , Canaanite religions , Manichaeism , Mithraism and various monotheist gnostic sects. The six top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic , Persian , Turkish , Kurdish , Modern Hebrew and Greek . About 20 minority languages are also spoken in
2730-489: Is Aramaic and its dialects are spoken mainly by Assyrians and Mandaeans , with Western Aramaic still spoken in two villages near Damascus, Syria. There is also an Oasis Berber -speaking community in Egypt where the language is also known as Siwa . It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic sister language. Persian is the second most spoken language. While it is primarily spoken in Iran and some border areas in neighbouring countries,
2925-527: Is Middle Eastern and the derived noun is Middle Easterner . While non-Eurocentric terms such as "Southwest Asia" or "Swasia" have been sparsely used, the classificiation of the African country, Egypt, among those counted in the Middle East challenges the usefulness of using such terms. The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War , "Near East"
3120-543: Is unlawful and challenge the authority of the legal schools. In their perspective, since the madhhabs emerged after the era of Salaf al-Salih (pious predecessors); those Muslims who follow a madhhab without directly searching for Scriptural evidences would get deviated. These include the scholars of Ahl-i Hadith movement, Muhammad Nasir Al-Din al-Albani (d. 2000), Muḥammad Ḥayāt al-Sindhī (d. 1163), Ibn 'Amir al-Ṣanʿānī (d. 1182), al-Shawkānī (d. 1250), etc.; who completely condemn taqlid (imitation), rejecting
3315-460: Is a revival movement within Sunni Islam , which was formed as a socio-religious movement during the late 19th century and has remained influential in the Islamic world for over a century. The name " Salafiyya " is a self-designation, to call for a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" ( salaf ), the first three generations of Muslims (the Islamic prophet Muhammad and
3510-618: Is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula , the Levant , Turkey , Egypt , Iran , and Iraq . The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the term Near East (both were in contrast to the Far East ). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. Since
3705-547: Is absolutely forbidden. Atharis engage in strictly literal and amodal reading of the Qur'an and hadith (prophetic traditions) and only their clear or apparent meanings have the sole authority in creedal affairs. As opposed to one engaged in Ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation), they do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the Qur'an rationally; and believe that the real meanings should be consigned to God alone ( tafwid ). Following
3900-685: Is also commonly taught and used as a foreign second language, in countries such as Egypt , Jordan , Iran , Iraq , Qatar , Bahrain , United Arab Emirates and Kuwait . It is also a main language in some Emirates of the United Arab Emirates. It is also spoken as native language by Jewish immigrants from Anglophone countries (UK, US, Australia) in Israel and understood widely as second language there. Salafism [REDACTED] Politics portal The Salafi movement or Salafism ( Arabic : السلفية , romanized : al-Salafiyya )
4095-568: Is an act of shirk (polytheism). Contemporary Salafis generally discard the practice of adhering to the established rulings of any particular Madhhab , condemning the principle of Taqlid (blind imitation) as a bid'ah (innovation) and are significantly influenced by the legal principles of the Zahirite school, historically associated with anti- madhhab doctrines that opposed the canonization of legal schools. Early Zahirite scholar Ibn Hazm's condemnation of Taqlid and calls to break free from
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#17328481244164290-458: Is from the genealogical dictionary of al-Sam'ani (d. 1166), who wrote a short entry about the surname "al-Salafi" (the Salafi): "According to what I heard, this [surname indicates one's] ascription to the pious ancestors and [one's] adoption of their doctrine [madhhabihim]." In his biographical dictionary Siyar a`lam al-nubala , Athari theologian Al-Dhahabi described his teacher Ibn Taymiyya as
4485-616: Is not uncommon among the middle and upper classes . Arabic is not commonly spoken in Turkey, Iran, and Israel, and some varieties of Arabic lack mutual intelligibility , thus qualifying as distinct languages by this linguistic criterion. The Middle East was the birthplace of the Abrahamic , Gnostic , and most Iranian religions . Initially the ancient inhabitants of the region followed various ethnic religions , but most of those began to be gradually replaced at first by Christianity (even before
4680-629: Is present in areas in neighboring countries. It is a member of the Turkic languages , which have their origins in East Asia. Another Turkic language, Azerbaijani , is spoken by Azerbaijanis in Iran. The fourth-most widely spoken language, Kurdish , is spoken in the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, Sorani Kurdish is the second official language in Iraq (instated after the 2005 constitution) after Arabic. Hebrew
4875-462: Is reflected in modern population density patterns. Irrigation systems were extremely important for the agricultural Middle East: for Egypt that of the lower Nile River , and for Mesopotamia that of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Levantine agriculture depended on precipitation rather than on the river-based irrigation of Egypt and Mesopotamia, resulting in preference for different crops. Since travel
5070-429: Is the official language of Israel , with Arabic given a special status after the 2018 Basic law lowered its status from an official language prior to 2018. Hebrew is spoken and used by over 80% of Israel's population, the other 20% using Arabic. Modern Hebrew only began being spoken in the 20th century after being revived in the late 19th century by Elizer Ben-Yehuda (Elizer Perlman) and European Jewish settlers, with
5265-557: Is to interpret literally the Koranic verses and hadiths that relate to the Divine attributes [ ijra' ayat al-sifat wa ahadith al-sifat 'ala zahiriha ], and without attributing to Him anthropomorphic qualities [ ma' nafy al-kayfiyya wal tashbih ]." The followers of the Salafiyya school look to the medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyya as the most significant classical scholarly authority in theology and spirituality. Ibn Taymiyya's theological treatises form
5460-610: The Sahabah [his companions], then the Tabi'in , and the third generation, the Tabi' al-Tabi'in ), who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam . In practice, Salafis claim that they rely on the Qur'an , the Sunnah and the Ijma (consensus) of the salaf , giving these writings precedence over what they claim as "later religious interpretations". The Salafi movement aimed to achieve
5655-456: The Fuqaha (jurisconsultants) in the study of hadith , their interpretations and rationalisation. Thus, he was accommodative towards classical structures of Fiqh . In Yemen , influential scholar Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Shawkani (1759–1834) condemned Taqlid far more fiercely, and his movement advocated radical rejection of classical Fiqh structures. The promotion of Ijtihad of these movements
5850-705: The Maghreb , the western part). Even though the term originated in the West, countries of the Middle East that use languages other than Arabic also use that term in translation. For instance, the Persian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه ( Khāvar-e miyāneh ), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון ( hamizrach hatikhon ), and the Turkish is Orta Doğu. Traditionally included within the Middle East are Arabia , Asia Minor , East Thrace , Egypt , Iran ,
6045-494: The Sahaba as exemplar role models in religious life, they emulate them through the lens of the classical traditions of the madhahib and its religious clergy . On the other hand, Salafis attempt to follow the Salaf al-Salih through recorded scriptural evidences, often bypassing the classical manuals of madhahib . Nonetheless, both Salafis and Mutakallimun empasize the significance of
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6240-525: The Salaf al-Salih ; who were the early three generations of Muslims that succeeded Prophet Muhammad . They consider the faith and practices of salaf al-salih as virtuous and exemplary. By seeking to capture values of the Salaf in their own lives, Salafis attempt to recreate a 'golden age', and revive a pristine version of Islam, stripped of all later accretions, including the four schools of law as well as popular Sufism . The emergence of Salafism coincided with
6435-462: The murid - murshid relationship in mysticism , as well as the Silsilas (chains of transmission) upon which Tariqah structures were built. In particular, Rida fiercely rebuked political quietism and pacifist doctrines of various Sufi orders. The Salafiyya of Rida and his disciples held onto an ideal of the complete return to the religious and political ways of the salaf . In calling for
6630-534: The Abbasids and it was because of this that allowed for mass conversions in foreign areas. "People of the book" or dhimmi were always treated well; these people included Christians, Jews, Hindus , and Zoroastrians . However, the crusades started a new thinking in the Islamic empires, that non-Islamic ideas were immoral or inferior; this was primarily perpetrated by the ulama (علماء) scholars. Arabian culture took off during
6825-729: The Achaemenid Empire known as the first Persian Empire, conquered in the late 4th century BC by the very short-lived Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great , and then successor kingdoms such as Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid state in Western Asia. After a century of hiatus, the idea of the Persian Empire was revived by the Parthians in the 3rd century BC—and continued by their successors,
7020-562: The Arab world . Rida's religious orientation was shaped by his association with Syrian Hanbali and Salafi scholars who preserved the tradition of Ibn Taymiyya. These ideas would be popularised by Rida and his disciples, immensely influencing numerous Salafi organisations in the Arab world. Some of the major Salafi reform movements in the Islamic world today include the Ahl-i Hadith movement, inspired by
7215-675: The Arabian Peninsula ( Magan , Sheba , Ubar ). The Near East was first largely unified under the Neo Assyrian Empire , then the Achaemenid Empire followed later by the Macedonian Empire and after this to some degree by the Iranian empires (namely the Parthian and Sassanid Empires ), the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire . The region served as the intellectual and economic center of
7410-611: The Athari school of theology largely come from the Salafi movement; they uphold the Athari works of Ibn Taymiyya . Ibn Taymiyya himself, a disputed and partly rejected scholar during his lifetime, became a major scholar among followers of the Salafi movement credited with the title Shaykh al-Islam . Other important figures include major scholars important in Islamic history, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal . While proponents of Kalam revere early generations of Salaf al-Salih , viewing Muhammad and
7605-536: The Baháʼí Faith . Throughout its history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area. The region is one of the regions where agriculture was independently discovered, and from the Middle East it was spread, during the Neolithic, to different regions of the world such as Europe, the Indus Valley and Eastern Africa. Prior to
7800-518: The Central Powers , was defeated by the British Empire and their allies and partitioned into a number of separate nations, initially under British and French Mandates . Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers, notably Britain and France by the end of the 1960s. They were supplanted in some part by
7995-867: The Eocene , but the separation of Africa and Arabia occurred in the Oligocene, and since then the Arabian Plate has been slowly moving toward the Eurasian Plate . The collision between the Arabian Plate and Eurasia is pushing up the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Because the Arabian Plate and Eurasia plate collide, many cities are in danger such as those in southeastern Turkey (which is on the Arabian Plate). These dangers include earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. The earliest human migrations out of Africa occurred through
History of the Middle East - Misplaced Pages Continue
8190-518: The First World War , religious missions of the Salafi call in the Arab East had operated secretively. Following the First World War, the Salafi ideas were spread and established among the intelligentsia. Politically oriented scholars like Rashid Rida had also emphasized the necessity to establish an Islamic state that implements Sharia (Islamic law) and thus laid the intellectual foundations for
8385-871: The Hejaz . Egypt held out under the Fatimid caliphs until 1169, when it too fell to the Turks . Despite massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the Christian Byzantine Empire continued to be a potent military and economic force in the Mediterranean, preventing Arab expansion into much of Europe. The Seljuqs' defeat of the Byzantine military in the Battle of Manzikert in the 11th century and settling in Anatolia effectively marked
8580-569: The Hindu–Arabic numeral system in their conquests of south Asia . The use of this system in Muslim trade and political institutions allowed for the eventual popularization of it around the world; this number system would be critical to the Scientific Revolution in Europe. Muslim intellectuals would become experts in chemistry , optics , and mapmaking during the Abbasid Caliphate. In the arts, Abbasid architecture expanded upon Umayyad architecture , with larger and more extravagant mosques. Persian literature grew based on ethical values. Astronomy
8775-614: The International Organization for Migration , there are 13 million first-generation migrants from Arab nations in the world, of which 5.8 reside in other Arab countries. Expatriates from Arab countries contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of US$ 35.1 billion in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan , Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries. In Somalia ,
8970-404: The Levant , Mesopotamia , and the Socotra Archipelago . The region includes 17 UN -recognized countries and one British Overseas Territory . Various concepts are often paralleled to the Middle East, most notably the Near East , Fertile Crescent , and Levant . These are geographical concepts, which refer to large sections of the modern-day Middle East, with the Near East being the closest to
9165-454: The Nabatean kingdom . The Phoenician civilization, encompassing several city states, was a maritime trading culture that established colonial cities in the Mediterranean Basin , most notably Carthage, in 814 BC . Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empires that came to rule almost the entire Middle East—particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–605 BC. The Assyrian Empire, at its peak,
9360-429: The Near East , and the Byzantine Empire later ruled from the Balkans to the Euphrates , increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity . Between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD, the Middle East was dominated by the Byzantines and the Sasanian Empire . From the 7th century onward, Islam began to shape the region, bringing a new cultural and religious identity. The Seljuq dynasty displaced Arab dominance in
9555-447: The Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia , and the basin of the Jordan River that spans most of the Levant. These regions are collectively known as the Fertile Crescent , and comprise the core of what historians had long referred to as the cradle of civilization (multiple regions of the world have since been classified as also having developed independent, original civilizations). Conversely,
9750-584: The North African Tuareg , and European agriculturalists , who are descendants of these Neolithic agriculturalists, share the lactase persistence variant –13910*T. While shared by Fulani and Tuareg herders, compared to the Tuareg variant, the Fulani variant of –13910*T has undergone a longer period of haplotype differentiation. The Fulani lactase persistence variant –13910*T may have spread, along with cattle pastoralism , between 9686 BP and 7534 BP, possibly around 8500 BP; corroborating this timeframe for
9945-511: The Ottoman Maturidite scholar Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (1879–1952); accusing him of heresy. In the treatise, Bitar vigorously advocates Ibn Taymiyya's literalist approach to the theological question of the Divine attributes ( Al- Asma wa-l-Sifat ) and seemingly anthropomorphic expressions in the Qur'an . At the height of his career, Bitar enjoyed the respect of Syrian ulema and laypersons of all groups. For his student Nasir al-Din Albani (1914–1999) and his purist Salafi followers, Bitar
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#173284812441610140-521: The Persian Gulf states , Libya , and Algeria , leading to increased Western and later American interest in the region. In the 1920s to 1940s, Syria and Egypt pursued independence. The British, French, and Soviets withdrew from much of the Middle East during and after World War II . The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine . Amid Cold War tensions, pan-Arabism emerged in Western Asia and Northern Africa. The end of European control,
10335-404: The Sassanid Empire . However, it would be the later Islamic Caliphates of the Middle Ages , or Islamic Golden Age which began with the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7th century AD, that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominant Islamic Arab ethnic identity that largely (but not exclusively) persists today. The 4 caliphates that dominated
10530-425: The Sassanids from the 3rd century AD. This empire dominated sizable parts of what is now the Asian part of the Middle East and continued to influence the rest of the Asiatic and African Middle East region, until the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in the mid-7th century AD. Between the 1st century BC and the early 7th century AD, the region was completely dominated by the Romans and the Parthians and Sassanids on
10725-420: The Shabak people , the Mandaeans and the Samaritans . It is somewhat controversial whether the Druze religion is a distinct religion in its own right or merely a part of the Ismailist branch of Shia Islam . The Arabian Tectonic Plate was part of the African Plate during much of the Phanerozoic Eon ( Paleozoic – Cenozoic ), until the Oligocene Epoch of the Cenozoic Era . Red Sea rifting began in
10920-669: The Somali Civil War has greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora , as many of the best educated Somalis left for Middle Eastern countries as well as Europe and North America . Non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey , Israel and Iran are also subject to important migration dynamics. A fair proportion of those migrating from Arab nations are from ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution and are not necessarily ethnic Arabs, Iranians or Turks. Large numbers of Kurds , Jews , Assyrians , Greeks and Armenians as well as many Mandeans have left nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey for these reasons during
11115-487: The Wahhabi movement in the Arabian Peninsula , subcontinental reform movements spearheaded by Shah Waliullah Dehlawi , Shah Ismail Dehlawi and Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed as well as the Yemeni islah movement led by Al-San'aani and Al-Shawkani . These movements had advocated the belief that the Qur'an and Sunnah are the primary sources of sharia and the legal status quo should be scrutinized based on Qur'an and Hadith . Far from being novel, this idea
11310-431: The clash between the kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar in 525 displayed a higher power struggle between Byzantium and Persia for control of the Red Sea trade. Territorial wars soon became common, with the Byzantines and Sasanians fighting over upper Mesopotamia and Armenia and key cities that facilitated trade from Arabia, India , and China . Byzantium, as the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, continued control of
11505-432: The first native Hebrew speaker being born in 1882. Greek is one of the two official languages of Cyprus , and the country's main language. Small communities of Greek speakers exist all around the Middle East; until the 20th century it was also widely spoken in Asia Minor (being the second most spoken language there, after Turkish) and Egypt. During the antiquity, Ancient Greek was the lingua franca for many areas of
11700-507: The madhhabs . While they doctrinally condemned Taqlid and advocated Ijtihad , historically the Wahhabi legal practice was grounded mostly within the confines of Hanbali school, until recently. The doctrinal rejection of Taqlid by Wahhabis would lead to subsequent emergence of prominent Wahhabi ulema such as Sa'd ibn 'Atiq, Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'dii , Ibn 'Uthaymin , Ibn Baz , etc.; who would depart significantly from Hanbali law. Other Salafi movements, however, believe that taqlid
11895-465: The potter's wheel and then the vehicular and mill wheel , created the first centralized governments and law codes , served as birthplace to the first city-states with their high degree of division of labor , as well as laying the foundation for the fields of astronomy and mathematics . However, its empires also introduced rigid social stratification , slavery , and organized warfare . The earliest civilizations in history were established in
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#173284812441612090-434: The power balance towards the West. The British Empire gained control over the Persian Gulf , while French colonial empire extended into Lebanon and Syria . In 1912, Italy took Libya and the Dodecanese islands. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern rulers sought modernization to match European powers. A key moment came with the discovery of oil , first in Persia (1908), then in Saudi Arabia (1938),
12285-433: The " mujaddid madhhab al-salaf fil-Sham " (the reviver of the ancestral doctrine in Syria). While these reformers were critical of various aspects of popular Sufism , they didn't deny Sufism completely. The Cairene school of Muhammad Abduh emerged as a separate trend in 1880s, and would be influenced by the Damascene Salafiyya , as well as Mu'tazilite philosophy. Abduh's movement sought a rationalist approach to adapt to
12480-418: The "final" edicts of any specific madhhab . The origins of Salafism are disputed, with some historians like Louis Massignon tracing its origin to the intellectual movement in the second half of the nineteenth century that opposed Westernization emanating from European imperialism (led by Al-Afghani , Muhammad Abduh , and Rashid Rida ). However, Afghani and Abduh had not self-described as "Salafi" and
12675-419: The 12th century . Motivated by religion and conquest, the kings of Europe launched a number of Crusades to try to roll back Muslim power and retake the Holy Land . The Crusades were unsuccessful but were far more effective in weakening the already tottering Byzantine Empire. They also rearranged the balance of power in the Muslim world as Egypt once again emerged as a major power. Religion always played
12870-558: The 1880s, due to its popularity amongst the reformist ulema in Damascus. Furthermore; most of the medieval treatises of the classical Syrian theologian Ibn Taymiyya were preserved in various Damascene mosques. Salafi scholars gathered these works and indexed them in the archives of the Zahiriyya Library ( Maktabat Zahiriyya ), one of the most prominent Islamic libraries of the 19th century. Most influential Salafi scholars during this period were Tahir al-Jazai'ri, 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar and Jamal al-Din Qasimi . These scholars took precedent from
13065-418: The 18th-century reformers influenced by Ibn Taymiyya, such as Al-Shawkani, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Shah Waliullah etc. and called for a return to the purity of the early era of the Salaf al-Salih (righteous forebears). Like Ibn Taymiyya during the 13th century; they viewed themselves as determined preachers calling to defend Tawhid (Islamic monotheism), attacking bid'ah (religious innovations), criticising
13260-408: The 1967 Six-Day War , the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War , and the rise of Salafism / Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia that led to rise of Islamism . Additionally, the Iranian Revolution contributed to a significant Islamic revival (Tajdid). The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 shifted global focus from the Cold War to the War on Terror . In
13455-428: The 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas" across the Islamic World and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization". Starting from the French scholar Louis Massignon , Western scholarship for much of the 20th-century considered the Islamic Modernist movement of 19th-century figures Muhammad Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (who were Ash'ari rationalists) to be part of
13650-411: The 21st century, Salafi teachings and ideas had become so mainstreamised that many modern Muslims, even those who do not self-identify as Salafi, have adopted various aspects of Salafism. At times, Salafism has also been deemed a hybrid of Wahhabism and other post-1960s movements. Academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote "a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of
13845-432: The 313 AD Edict of Milan ) and finally by Islam (after the spread of the Muslim conquests beyond the Arabian Peninsula in 634 AD). To this day, however, the Middle East has, in particular, some sizable, ethnically distinct Christian minority groups , as well as Jews, concentrated in Israel, and followers of Iranian religions, such as Yazdânism and Zoroastrianism . Some of the smaller ethnoreligious minorities include
14040-628: The Alusi family of ulama to promote reformist ideas, influenced by Wahhabism through his teacher 'Ali al-Suwaydi. He also combined the theological ideas of Sufis and Mutakallimun (dialecticians) like Razi in his reformist works. Shihab al-Din's son, Nu'man Khayr al-Din al-Alusi , was also heavily influenced by the treatises of Siddiq Hasan Khan , an early leader of the Ah-i Hadith movement. He regularly corresponded with him and received an Ijazat (license to teach) from Siddiq Hasan Khan, and became
14235-549: The Arabian desert, where they worshipped idols and remained in small clans tied together by kinship. Urbanization and agriculture was limited in Arabia, save for a few regions near the coast. Mecca and Medina (then called Yathrib) were two such cities that were important hubs for trade between Africa and Eurasia. This commerce was central to city-life, where most inhabitants were merchants. Nevertheless, some Arabs saw it fit to migrate to
14430-596: The Arabic equivalent of Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ ) has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press. It comprises the same meaning as the term "Middle East" in North American and Western European usage. The designation, Mashriq , also from the Arabic root for East , also denotes a variously defined region around the Levant , the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to
14625-669: The Byzantines, who were helped by the Bulgarians . The Byzantine provinces of Roman Syria , North Africa , and Sicily , however, could not mount such a resistance, and the Muslim conquerors swept through those regions. At the far west, they crossed the sea taking Visigothic Hispania before being halted in southern France in the Battle of Tours by the Franks . At its greatest extent, the Arab Empire
14820-501: The Christian religion spread throughout the Roman and Persian Empires, it took root in the Middle East, and cities such as Alexandria and Edessa became important centers of Christian scholarship. By the 5th century, Christianity was the dominant religion in the Middle East, with other faiths (gradually including heretical Christian sects) being actively repressed. The Middle East's ties to
15015-518: The Fulani, by at least 7500 BP, there is evidence of herders engaging in the act of milking in the Central Sahara . Mesopotamia Egypt Iran Anatolia The Levant Arabia Cosmology The ancient Near East was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture and currency -mediated trade (as opposed to barter ), gave the rest of the world the first writing system , invented
15210-567: The Levant, all originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East. These were followed by the Hittite , Greek , Hurrian and Urartian civilisations of Asia Minor ; Elam , Persia and Median civilizations in Iran , as well as the civilizations of the Levant (such as Ebla , Mari , Nagar , Ugarit , Canaan , Aramea , Mitanni , Phoenicia and Israel ) and
15405-519: The Levantine coast and most of Turkey have relatively temperate climates typical of the Mediterranean , with dry summers and cool, wet winters. Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of petroleum . Monarchs of the Arabian Peninsula in particular have benefitted economically from petroleum exports. Because of the arid climate and dependence on the fossil fuel industry,
15600-564: The Mediterranean. After its conquest by the Normans the island developed its own distinct culture with the fusion of Arab, Western, and Byzantine influences. Palermo remained a leading artistic and commercial centre of the Mediterranean well into the Middle Ages. Africa was reviving, however, as more organized and centralized states began to form in the later Middle Ages after the Renaissance of
15795-836: The Middle East for more than 600 years were the Rashidun Caliphate , the Umayyad caliphate , the Abbasid caliphate and the Fatimid caliphate . Additionally, the Mongols would come to dominate the region, the Kingdom of Armenia would incorporate parts of the region to their domain, the Seljuks would rule the region and spread Turko-Persian culture, and the Franks would found the Crusader states that would stand for roughly two centuries. Josiah Russell estimates
15990-521: The Middle East in its geographical meaning. Due to it primarily being Arabic speaking, the Maghreb region of North Africa is sometimes included. The countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia , Azerbaijan , and Georgia – are occasionally included in definitions of the Middle East. " Greater Middle East " is a political term coined by the second Bush administration in
16185-468: The Middle East is both a major contributor to climate change and a region that is expected to be severely adversely affected by it. Other concepts of the region exist, including the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which includes states of the Maghreb and the Sudan . The term the " Greater Middle East " also includes parts of East Africa , Mauritania , Afghanistan , Pakistan , and sometimes
16380-539: The Middle East, namely over the Levantine corridor , with the pre-modern Homo erectus about 1.8 million years BP . One of the potential routes for early human migrations toward southern and eastern Asia is Iran. Haplogroup J-P209 , the most common human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup in the Middle East today, is believed to have arisen in the region 31,700 ± 12,800 years ago. The two main current subgroups, J-M267 and J-M172 , which now comprise between them almost all of
16575-656: The Middle East. Arabic, with all its dialects, is the most widely spoken language in the Middle East, with Literary Arabic being official in all North African and in most West Asian countries. Arabic dialects are also spoken in some adjacent areas in neighbouring Middle Eastern non-Arab countries. It is a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Several Modern South Arabian languages such as Mehri and Soqotri are also spoken in Yemen and Oman. Another Semitic language
16770-407: The Middle East. Arabs constitute the main ethnic group in the region, followed by Turks , Persians , Kurds , Azeris , Copts , Jews , Assyrians , Iraqi Turkmen , Yazidis , and Greek Cypriots . The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, especially in the Arabian and Egyptian regions. Several major rivers provide irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas here, such as
16965-408: The Middle East. For the period between the 1970s and 1990s, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in particular provided a rich source of employment for workers from Egypt, Yemen and the countries of the Levant, while Europe had attracted young workers from North African countries due both to proximity and the legacy of colonial ties between France and the majority of North African states." According to
17160-526: The Ottoman monarchy and its clerical establishment as well as relentlessly condemning Western ideas such as nationalism . According to historian Itzchak Weismann : "The Salafi trend of Damascus constituted a religious response to the political alliance forged between the Ottoman State under the modernizing autocracy of Sultan Abdül Hamid II and orthodox sufi shaykhs and ulama who were willing to mobilize
17355-457: The Ottoman state apparatus". Between 1630 and 1680 there were many violent quarrels that occurred between the Kadızadelis and those that they disapproved of. As the movement progressed, activists became "increasingly violent" and Kadızadelis were known to enter "mosques, tekkes and Ottoman coffeehouses in order to mete out punishments to those contravening their version of orthodoxy." During
17550-618: The Roman Empire and played an exceptionally important role due to its periphery on the Sassanid Empire . Thus, the Romans stationed up to five or six of their legions in the region for the sole purpose of defending it from Sassanid and Bedouin raids and invasions. From the 4th century CE onwards, the Middle East became the center of the two main powers at the time, the Byzantine Empire and
17745-526: The Roman period. Cities in the Middle East, especially Alexandria , became major urban centers for the Empire and the region became the Empire's "bread basket" as the key agricultural producer. Ægyptus was by far the most wealthy Roman province. During the time that mystery cults were introduced to the region, traditional religions were often criticized and the cults gained societal influence. These cults formed around gods like Cybele , Isis , and Mithra . As
17940-595: The Salaf in the Sunni tradition . Salafi Muslims consider Qur'an , Sunnah (which they equate with the Kutub al-Sittah ) and The Actions or Sayings of The Sahaba as the only valid authoritative source for Islam. While Salafis believe that investigation of novel issues should be understood from the Scriptures in consideration of the context of modern era, they oppose rationalist interpretations of Scriptures. In addition to limiting
18135-456: The Salafi hermeneutic approach, Salafis differ from that of non-Salafis in some regards of permissibility. Ibn Taymiyya was known for making scholarly refutations of religious groups such as the Sufis , Jahmites , Asha'rites , Shias , Falsafa etc., through his numerous treatises. Explaining the theological approach of " Salafiyya ", Ibn Taymiyya states in a fatwa : "The way of the Salaf
18330-581: The Sasanians thought themselves heroes of ancient Iranian traditions and of the traditional Persian religion, Zoroastrianism . The Arabian peninsula already played a role in the power struggles of the Byzantines and Sasanians. While Byzantium allied itself with the Kingdom of Aksum in the horn of Africa, the Sasanian Empire assisted the Himyarite Kingdom in what is now Yemen (southwest Arabia). Thus
18525-623: The South Caucasus and Central Asia . The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office . However, it became more widely known when United States naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to "designate the area between Arabia and India". During this time the British and Russian empires were vying for influence in Central Asia ,
18720-876: The Wahhabi movement in Arabia , Ahl-i Hadith movement in India and Salafiyya movement in the Arab world of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. The person most responsible for this transformation was the Albanian Islamic hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani , a protege of Rashid Rida, who is generally considered as the "spiritual father" of the Purist Salafi current and respected by all contemporary Salafis as "the greatest hadith scholar of his generation". As of 2017, journalist Graeme Wood estimated that Salafi "probably" make up "fewer than 10%" of Muslims globally, but by
18915-902: The area from Mesopotamia to Burma , namely, the area between the Near East and the Far East. In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command , which was based in Cairo , for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage in Europe and the United States. Following World War II, for example, the Middle East Institute was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946. The corresponding adjective
19110-617: The authority of the legal schools, and oblige Muslims to seek religious rulings ( fatwa ) issued by scholars exclusively based on the Qur'an and Hadith ; with no intermediary involved. The Ahl-i Hadith ulema would distinguish themselves from the Wahhabis who followed the Hanbali school while they considered themselves as following no particular school. In contemporary era, al-Albani and his disciples, in particular, would directly criticise Wahhabis on
19305-541: The beliefs and practices of the first Muslim generation in the first/seventh century" (" enjoining good and forbidding wrong "). Driven by zealous and fiery rhetoric, Kadızade Mehmed was able to inspire many followers to join in his cause and rid themselves of any and all corruption found inside the Ottoman Empire . Leaders of the movement held official positions as preachers in the major mosques of Baghdad, and "combined popular followings with support from within
19500-417: The borders of India or command the approaches to India." After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term. Until World War II , it was customary to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the " Near East ", while the " Far East " centered on China , India and Japan . The Middle East was then defined as
19695-569: The cities' patron deities. The most prominent of the city-states was Sumer, which gave its language to the area, [presumably the first written language ,] and became the first great civilization of mankind. About 2340 BC, Sargon the Great (c. 2360–2305 BC) united the city-states in the south and founded the Akkadian dynasty, the world's first empire." During this same time period, Sargon the Great appointed his daughter, Enheduanna , as High Priestess of Inanna at Ur. Her writings, which established her as
19890-653: The city of Rome were gradually severed as the Empire split into East and West , with the Middle East tied to the new Roman capital of Constantinople . The subsequent Fall of the Western Roman Empire therefore, had minimal direct impact on the region. The Eastern Roman Empire, today commonly known as the Byzantine Empire , ruling from the Balkans to the Euphrates , became increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity, gradually creating religious rifts between
20085-575: The core doctrinal texts of Wahhabi , Ahl-i Hadith and various other Salafi movements. According to the monotheistic doctrine of Ibn Taymiyya, Tawhid is categorised into three types: At-tawḥīd ar-rubūbiyya (Oneness in Lordship), At-tawḥīd al-ulūhiyya (Oneness in Worship) and At-tawhid al-assmaa was-sifaat (Oneness in names and attributes). Ibn Taymiyya's interpretation of the Shahada (Islamic testimony) as
20280-529: The country and are generally different from the English terms. In German the term Naher Osten (Near East) is still in common use (nowadays the term Mittlerer Osten is more and more common in press texts translated from English sources, albeit having a distinct meaning). In the four Slavic languages, Russian Ближний Восток or Blizhniy Vostok , Bulgarian Близкия Изток , Polish Bliski Wschód or Croatian Bliski istok (terms meaning Near East are
20475-509: The country is one of the region's largest and most populous. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family of Indo-European languages . Other Western Iranic languages spoken in the region include Achomi , Daylami , Kurdish dialects, Semmani , Lurish , amongst many others. The close third-most widely spoken language, Turkish , is largely confined to Turkey, which is also one of the region's largest and most populous countries, but it
20670-467: The creedal doctrines of the medieval Syrian Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya , who had strongly condemned philosophy and various features of Sufism as heretical. Ibn Taymiyya's radical reform programme called for Muslims to return to the pristine Islam of the Salaf al-Salih (pious ancestors); through a direct understanding of Scriptures. Further influences of the early Salafiyya movement included various 18th-century Islamic reform movements such as
20865-529: The doctrines dictated by the establishment in Constantinople and believers in many parts of the Middle East. By this time, Greek had become the ' lingua franca ' of the region, although ethnicities such as the Syriacs and the Hebrew continued to exist. Under Byzantine/Greek rule the area of the Levant met an era of stability and prosperity. In the 5th century, the Middle East was separated into small, weak states;
21060-433: The early Salafiyya movement, a theological faction prevalent across the Arab world during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, which was closely associated with the works of Sayyid Rashid Rida (1865–1935). The first phase of the Salafiyya movement emerged amidst the reform-minded ulema of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the late nineteenth century. The movement relied primarily upon
21255-584: The early 2010s, the Arab Spring triggered major protests and revolutions in the region. Clashes in western Iraq in 2013, set the stage for the Islamic State (ISIL) uprising. The term Near East can be used interchangeably with Middle East , but in a different context, especially in discussing ancient history , it may have a limited meaning, namely the northern historically- Aramaic -speaking Semitic people area and adjacent Anatolian territories, marked in
21450-431: The early Abbasid age, despite the prevalent political issues. Muslims saved and spread Greek advances in medicine , algebra , geometry , astronomy , anatomy , and ethics that would later find its way back to Western Europe. The works of Aristotle , Galen , Hippocrates , Ptolemy , and Euclid were saved and distributed throughout the empire (and eventually into Europe) in this manner. Muslim scholars also discovered
21645-596: The economy of the Western world [...] Within this contextual framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict particularly between Sunnis and Shiites . Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in the Middle East, followed by various Iranian peoples and then by Turkic peoples ( Turkish , Azeris , Syrian Turkmen , and Iraqi Turkmen ). Native ethnic groups of
21840-473: The emerging independent countries of the Islamic world . However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history . In their usage, the term describes an area identical to the term Middle East , which is not used by these disciplines (see ancient Near East ). The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the United States government
22035-441: The end of Byzantine power. The Seljuks ruled most of the Middle East region for the next 200 years, but their empire soon broke up into a number of smaller sultanates. Christian Western Europe staged a remarkable economic and demographic recovery in the 11th century since its nadir in the 7th century. The fragmentation of the Middle East allowed joined forces, mainly from England, France, and the emerging Holy Roman Empire , to enter
22230-406: The entry contains blank spaces in lieu of their full names, presumably because al-Sam'ani had forgotten them or did not know them." In addition, Lauzière claims "al-Sam'ani's dictionary suggests that the surname was marginal at best, and the lone quotation taken from Al-Dhahabi , who wrote 200 years later, does little to prove Salafi claims." The Salafi movement emphasizes looking up to the era of
22425-451: The establishment of Israel , and the rise of the petroleum industry shaped the modern Middle East. Despite economic growth, many countries faced challenges like political restrictions, corruption, cronyism and overreliance on oil. The wealthiest per capita are the small, oil-rich Persian Gulf states: Qatar , Kuwait , Bahrain , and the UAE . Several key events shaped the modern Middle East:
22620-502: The facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden , India, and the Persian Gulf. Mahan's article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question", written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol . During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to
22815-409: The farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs: Use Middle East unless Near East is used by a source in a story. Mideast is also acceptable, but Middle East is preferred. European languages have adopted terms similar to Near East and Middle East . Since these are based on a relative description, the meanings depend on
23010-768: The first decade of the 21st century to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world , specifically Afghanistan , Iran , Pakistan , and Turkey . Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. The Middle East lies at the juncture of Africa and Eurasia and of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ). It is the birthplace and spiritual center of religions such as Christianity , Islam , Judaism , Manichaeism , Yezidi , Druze , Yarsan , and Mandeanism , and in Iran, Mithraism , Zoroastrianism , Manicheanism , and
23205-653: The first known author in world history, also helped cement Sargon's position in the region. Soon after the Sumerian civilization began, the Nile valley of Lower and Upper Egypt was unified under the Pharaohs approximately around 3150 BC. Since then, Ancient Egypt experienced 3 high points of civilization, the so-called "Kingdom" periods: The history of Ancient Egypt is concluded by the Late Period (664–332 BC), immediately followed by
23400-527: The first to develop the contemporary notion of a civilization . By 3150 BC, Egyptian civilization had unified under its first pharaoh. Mesopotamia hosted powerful empires, notably the Assyrian Empires (1365–1076 BC and 911–609 BC). From the 7th century BC, the region was dominated by Iranian powers, including the Achaemenid Empire . In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic expanded to include much of
23595-424: The five prayers a day, to fast during the holy month of Ramadan , to pay the tax for charity (the zakāt ), and the hajj , or the pilgrimage that a Muslim needed to take at least once in their lifetime, according to the five (or six) pillars of Islam. Islam also created the need for spectacularly built mosques which created a distinct form of architecture. Some of the more magnificent mosques include Al-Aqsa and
23790-505: The formation of civilizations, advanced cultures formed all over the Middle East during the Stone Age . The search for agricultural lands by agriculturalists, and pastoral lands by herdsmen meant different migrations took place within the region and shaped its ethnic and demographic makeup. The Middle East is widely and most famously known as the cradle of civilization . The world's earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia ( Sumer , Akkad , Assyria and Babylonia ), ancient Egypt and Kish in
23985-442: The former Mosque of Cordoba . Islam unified the Middle East and helped the empires there to remain stable. Missionaries and warriors spread the religion from Arabia to North and Sudanic Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Mesopotamia area. This created a mix of cultures, especially in Africa, and the mawali demographic. Although the mawali would experience discrimination from the Umayyad, they would gain widespread acceptance from
24180-532: The geo-linguistic distribution today being divided between Persian Gulf , the Najd and the Hejaz in the Peninsula, as well as the Bedouin areas beyond the Peninsula. Since ancient times the Middle East has had several lingua franca : Akkadian ( c. 14th–8th century BC), Hebrew ( c. 5th century BC – 2nd century AD), Aramaic ( c. 8th century BC – 8th century AD), Greek ( c. 4th century BC – 8th century AD), and Arabic ( c. 8th century AD – present). Familiarity with English
24375-410: The highest in the world, and the international oil cartel OPEC is dominated by Middle Eastern countries. During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological struggle between the two superpowers and their allies: NATO and the United States on one side, and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact on the other, as they competed to influence regional allies. Besides the political reasons there
24570-470: The history of Egypt in Classical Antiquity , beginning with Ptolemaic Egypt . Thereafter, civilization quickly spread through the Fertile Crescent to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea and throughout the Levant , as well as to ancient Anatolia . Ancient Levantine kingdoms and city states included Ebla City, Ugarit City, Kingdom of Aram-Damascus , Kingdom of Israel , Kingdom of Judah , Kingdom of Ammon , Kingdom of Moab , Kingdom of Edom , and
24765-403: The increasing pace of modernisation. While 'Abduh was critical of certain Sufi practices, his writings had Sufi inclinations and he retained love for "true Sufism" as formulated by Al-Ghazali . The Damascene Salafiyya was also influenced by their reformist counterparts in Baghdad , especially the scholars of the Alusi family . Abu Thana' Shihab al-Din al-Alusi (1802–1854) was the first of
24960-422: The influential Alusi family. Three generations of Alusis, Mahmud al-Alusi (d. 1853), Nu'man al-Alusi (d. 1899) and Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi (1857–1924); were instrumental in spreading the doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya and the Wahhabi movement in the Arab world. Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi, a defender and historian of the Wahhabi movement, was also a leader of the Salafiyya movement. All these reformist tendencies merged into
25155-452: The interpretive system of the canonized schools by espousing a Fiqh directly grounded on Qura'n and Hadith ; have conferred a major impact on the Salafiyya movement. Salafi legalism is most often marked by its departure from the established rulings ( mu'tamad ) of the four Sunni madhahib , as well as frequently aligning with Zahirite views mentioned by Ibn Hazm in his legal compendium Al-Muhalla . Bernard Haykel notes that due to
25350-440: The issue of Taqlid due to their affinity towards the Hanbali school and called for a re-generated Wahhabism purified of elements contrary to doctrines of the Salaf. Other Salafi scholars like Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935) follow a middle course, allowing the layperson to do Taqlid only when necessary, obliging him to do Ittiba when the Scriptural evidences become known to him. Their legal methodology rejects partisanship to
25545-422: The known sunnah , not only in prayer but in every activity in daily life. For instance, many are careful always to use three fingers when eating, to drink water in three pauses, and to hold it with the right hand while sitting. The main doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya 's school, also referred by various academics as " al-Salafiyyah al-Tarikhiyah " (trans: "Historical Salafism") consist of: The Salafi thought seeks
25740-454: The last century. In Iran, many religious minorities such as Christians , Baháʼís , Jews and Zoroastrians have left since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 . The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions , many of which originated there. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity , are also well represented. Christian communities have played
25935-434: The late 20th century, it has been criticized as being too Eurocentric . The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia , but without the South Caucasus . It also includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai ) and all of Turkey (including East Thrace ). Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world . The most populous countries in
26130-438: The latter's territories in the Middle East. Since 527, this included Anatolia, Syria , Lebanon , Palestine , and Egypt . In 603 the Sasanians invaded, conquering Damascus and Egypt. It was Emperor Heraclius who was able to repel these invasions, and in 628 he replaced the Sasanian Great King with a more docile one. The fighting weakened both states, leaving the stage open to a new power. The nomadic Bedouin tribes dominated
26325-472: The leader of the Salafi trend in Iraq. Later he would also send his son 'Ala' al-Din (1860–1921) to study under Hasan Khan. Khayr al-Din Alusi would write lengthy polemics and treatises advocating the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya. The Iraqi reformers rejected the validity of Taqlid in jurisprudence , calling for Ijtihad and condemned ritual innovations like tomb-visitations for the purpose of worship . Salafiyya tradition had become dominant in Syria by
26520-435: The masses in his support." By the 1900s, the reformers had already become commonly known as "Salafis", which in-part was also used to deflect accusations from their opponents; to emphasize that they were different from the Wahhabis of Najd . The Salafi turn against Ibn 'Arabi and Sufism would materialize a decade later, after the First World War , under the leadership of Rashid Rida . This second-stage of Salafiyya
26715-457: The medieval proto-Salafist theologian Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328 C.E/ 728 A.H), which played the most significant role in formalizing the creedal, social and political positions of Ahl al-Hadith ; constitute the most widely referred classical works in Salafi seminaries. It is only in modern times that the label Salafi has been applied to a distinct movement and theological creed. Both modernists as well as traditionalists could apply
26910-432: The mid-11th century, followed by the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. By the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire , rooted in western Anatolia , rose to prominence, capturing Constantinople in 1453 and establishing a lasting sultanate. Large parts of the Middle East were contested between the Ottomans and the Safavid dynasty from the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans had been pushed out of Hungary , shifting
27105-429: The mid-nineteenth century British India , the Ahl-i Hadith movement revived the teachings of Shah Waliullah and Al-Shawkani; advocating rejection of Taqlid and study of hadith . They departed from Shah Waliullah's school with a literalist approach to hadith , and rejected classical legal structures; inclining towards the Zahirite school. In the 19th century, Hanbali traditionism would be revived in Iraq by
27300-415: The movement were printed and published through the Islamic Bookstore in Lebanon owned by Zuhayr Shawish. The early leaders of Salafiyya like Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935), Jamal al-Din Qasimi (d. 1914), etc. had considered traditionalist theology as central to their comprehensive socio-political reform programme. Rashid Rida, for instance, argued that Athari theology represented Sunni orthodoxy ,
27495-455: The name of independent legal judgement ( ijtihad ), reject strict adherence ( taqlid ) to the four schools of law ( madhahib ) and others who remain faithful to these. Although Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792 C.E/ 1206 A.H) had personally rejected the practice of Taqlid , Wahhabi scholars favoured following the Hanbali madhhab and generally permit Taqlid in following Fatwas (juristic legal opinions) and encourages following
27690-405: The northern regions of the Fertile Crescent , a region so named for its place between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that offered it fertile land. This included entire tribal chiefdoms such as the Lakhmids in a less controlled area of the Sasanian Empire, and the Ghassanids in a similar area inside of Byzantine territory; these political units of Arab origin offered a surprising stability that
27885-404: The only appropriate ones for the region. However, some European languages do have "Middle East" equivalents, such as French Moyen-Orient , Swedish Mellanöstern , Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente , Greek is Μέση Ανατολή ( Mesi Anatoli ), and Italian Medio Oriente . Perhaps because of the political influence of the United States and Europe, and the prominence of Western press,
28080-461: The opposing theological doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya to address new challenges. Other major figures in the movement included 'Abd al-Razzaq Al-Bitar , Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi , Tahir al-Jazairi , etc. 'Abd al-Razzaq Al-Bitar (the grandfather of Muhammad Bahjat al Bitar , a disciple of Rashid Rida) was the leader of the more traditional branch of the reform trend, which would become the Salafiyya of Damascus. Years later, Rashid Rida would describe him as
28275-438: The other hand, which often culminated in various Roman-Persian Wars over the seven centuries. Eastern Rite, Church of the East Christianity took hold in Persian-ruled Mesopotamia , particularly in Assyria from the 1st century AD onwards, and the region became a center of a flourishing Syriac – Assyrian literary tradition. In 66–63 BC, the Roman general Pompey conquered much of the Middle East. The Roman Empire united
28470-427: The owners of the library starting from 1912 and together published classical works, Hanbali treatises, pro- Wahhabi pamphlets, etc. as well as numerous articles through their official journal " Al-Majalla al-Salafiyya ". The immense popularity of the term at the time caused the Catholic Orientalist scholar Louis Massignon to mistakenly associate the label with Jamal al-Din Afghani and Muhammad 'Abduh, which became
28665-510: The pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara . Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River, where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society. Neolithic agriculturalists , who may have resided in Northeast Africa and the Near East , may have been the source population for lactase persistence variants, including –13910*T, and may have been subsequently supplanted by later migrations of peoples. The Sub-Saharan West African Fulani ,
28860-455: The peculiarity of its methodology, Salafis enjoy a relatively less rigid scholarly hierarchy of authorities ( ulema ). Most Salafis unlike other traditional and pre-modern Muslims do not subscribe to a hierarchy that rigorously "constrains and regulates... the output of opinions". As an interpretive community, Salafi tradition, "in contrast to other Muslim traditions of learning", is "relatively open, even democratic". Contemporary proponents of
29055-494: The population of the haplogroup, are both believed to have arisen very early, at least 10,000 years ago. Nonetheless, Y-chromosomes F-M89* and IJ-M429* were reported to have been observed in the Iranian plateau. There is evidence of rock carvings along the Nile terraces and in desert oases. In the 10th millennium BC , a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishermen was replaced by a grain -grinding culture. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 6000 BC began to desiccate
29250-399: The population of what he calls "Islamic territory" as roughly 12.5 million in 1000 – Anatolia 8 million, Syria 2 million, and Egypt 1.5 million. From the 16th century onward, the Middle East came to be dominated, once again, by two main powers: the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty . The modern Middle East began after World War I , when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with
29445-546: The purists (or quietists ), who avoid politics; the second largest group being the activists , who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the jihadists , who form a minority and advocate armed struggle to restore the early Islamic movement. In legal matters , Salafis usually advocate ijtihad (independent reasoning) and oppose taqlid (adherence) to the four or five schools ( madhahib ) of Islamic jurisprudence while some remain largely faithful to them, but do not restrict themselves to
29640-411: The re-orientation of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) away from Taqlid (adherence to the legal precedent of a particular Madhhab ) and directly back to the Prophet , his Companions and the Salaf . This preferred return to the pure way of the Prophet is termed " Ittiba " (following the Prophet by directly referring to the Scriptures). In legal approach, Salafis are divided between those who, in
29835-416: The region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, while Saudi Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times , and it was long considered the "cradle of civilization". The geopolitical importance of the region has been recognized and competed for during millennia. The Abrahamic religions, Judaism , Christianity , and Islam , have their origins in
30030-439: The region as including only Egypt , Syria, Israel , Lebanon , Jordan , Iraq, Saudi Arabia , Kuwait , Bahrain , and Qatar . Since the late 20th century, scholars and journalists from the region, such as journalist Louay Khraish and historian Hassan Hanafi have criticized the use of "Middle East" as a Eurocentric and colonialist term. The Associated Press Stylebook of 2004 says that Near East formerly referred to
30225-662: The region include, in addition to Arabs, Arameans , Assyrians , Baloch , Berbers , Copts , Druze , Greek Cypriots , Jews , Kurds , Lurs , Mandaeans , Persians , Samaritans , Shabaks , Tats , and Zazas . European ethnic groups that form a diaspora in the region include Albanians , Bosniaks , Circassians (including Kabardians ), Crimean Tatars , Greeks , Franco-Levantines , Italo-Levantines , and Iraqi Turkmens . Among other migrant populations are Chinese , Filipinos , Indians , Indonesians , Pakistanis , Pashtuns , Romani , and Afro-Arabs . "Migration has always provided an important vent for labor market pressures in
30420-499: The region now known as the Middle East around 3500 BC by the Sumerians , in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ), widely regarded as the cradle of civilization . The Sumerians and the Akkadians —who extended their empire to northern Mesopotamia (now northern Syria )—and later Babylonians and Assyrians all flourished in this region. "In the course of the fourth millennium BC, city-states developed in southern Mesopotamia that were dominated by temples whose priests represented
30615-407: The region with most of Europe and North Africa in a single political and economic unit. Even areas not directly annexed were strongly influenced by the Empire, which was the most powerful political and cultural entity for centuries. Though Roman culture spread across the region, the Greek culture and language first established in the region by the Macedonian Empire continued to dominate throughout
30810-402: The region. Much of North Africa became a peripheral area to the main Muslim centres in the Middle East, but Iberia ( Al-Andalus ) and Morocco soon broke away from this distant control and founded one of the world's most advanced societies at the time, along with Baghdad in the eastern Mediterranean. Between 831 and 1071, the Emirate of Sicily was one of the major centres of Islamic culture in
31005-524: The region. In 1095, Pope Urban II responded to pleas from the flagging Byzantine Empire and summoned the European aristocracy to recapture the Holy Land for Christianity. In 1099 the knights of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem and founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which survived until 1187, when Saladin , the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, retook the city. Smaller crusader kingdoms and fiefdoms survived until 1291. Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language)
31200-407: The restoration of an Islamic Caliphate through military struggle against European colonial powers . However, contemporary Salafiyya are dominated by Purists who eschew politics and advocate Islamic Political Quietism . Contemporary Purist Salafism , widely known as "the Salafi Manhaj " emerged from the 1960s as an intellectual hybrid of three similar, yet distinct, religious reform traditions:
31395-477: The rise of Western colonialism across many parts of the Islamic world . Between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries, these reformist movements called for a direct return to the Scriptures, institutional standardisations and jihad against colonial powers. The movement developed across various regions of the Islamic World in the late 19th century as an Islamic response against the rising European imperialism . The Salafi revivalists were inspired by
31590-402: The rising influence of the United States from the 1970s onwards. In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil. Estimated oil reserves , especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of
31785-429: The standard practice for Western scholars for much of the 20th century, at the expense of conceptual veracity. Salafis believe that the label " Salafiyya " existed from the first few generations of Islam and that it is not a modern movement. To justify this view, Salafis rely on a handful of quotes from medieval times where the term "Salafi" is used. One of the quotes used as evidence and widely posted on Salafi websites
31980-414: The strength of the Ummah (Muslim community) and enabled foreigners to gain control over Muslim lands . Hence, Rida held back from adopting an exclusivist attitude against Asharis during the first two decades of the 20th century. Beginning from the mid-1920s, this leniency gradually disappeared from Salafi activists and scholars to give way to a more partisan stance. Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, for example,
32175-452: The teachings of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and galvanized through the South Asian jihad of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid ; the Wahhabi movement in Arabia ; the Padri movement of Indonesia ; Algerian Salafism spearheaded by Abdelhamid Ben Badis ; and others. The term Salafi as a proper noun and adjective had been used during the classical era to refer to the theological school of the early Ahl al-Hadith movement. The treatises of
32370-585: The term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in the National Review , a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta , as well as its Gibraltar ; it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. Naval force has the quality of mobility which carries with it the privilege of temporary absences; but it needs to find on every scene of operation established bases of refit, of supply, and in case of disaster, of security. The British Navy should have
32565-610: The term. Both movements might have opposite approaches but advocate a belief that Islam has been altered and is in need of a return to a previous form of Islam allegedly practised by the Salafiyya . According to Bernard Haykel , "temporal proximity to the Prophet Muhammad is associated with the truest form of Islam" among many Sunni Muslims . Salafis are first and foremost religious and social reformers engaged in creating and reproducing particular forms of authority and identity, both personal and communal. They define [their] reformist project first and foremost through creedal tenets (i.e.,
32760-399: The testimony to worship God alone "only by means of what He has legislated", without partners, is adopted by the Salafis as the foundation of their faith. In the contemporary era, Ibn Taymiyya's writings on theology and innovated practices have inspired Salafi movements of diverse kinds. The increased prominence of these movements in the twentieth century has led to a resurgence in interest of
32955-401: The then known world. From the Caspian to Cyprus, from Anatolia to Egypt, Assyrian imperial expansion would bring into the Assyrian sphere nomadic and barbaric communities, and would bestow the gift of civilization upon them." From the early 6th century BC onwards, several Persian states dominated the region, beginning with the Medes and non-Persian Neo-Babylonian Empire , then their successor
33150-425: The theology of the Salafiyya school. Ibn Taymiyya also cited a scholarly consensus ( Ijma ), on the permissibility of ascribing ones self to the beliefs of the Salaf, stating: "There is no shame in declaring oneself to be a follower of the salaf, belonging to it and feeling proud of it; rather that must be accepted from him, according to scholarly consensus. The madhhab of the salaf cannot be anything but true. If
33345-401: The treatises of any particular schools of law, and refer to the books of all madhhabs . Following Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim , these scholars accept the rich literary heritage of Sunni Fiqh and consider the literature of the four Sunni law-schools as beneficial resources to issue rulings for the contemporary era. At the far end of the spectrum, some Salafis hold that adhering to taqlid
33540-499: The two maps below. Geographically, the Middle East can be thought of as Western Asia with the addition of Egypt (which is the non- Maghreb region of Northern Africa ) and with the exclusion of the Caucasus . The Middle East was the first to experience a Neolithic Revolution (c. the 10th millennium BCE), as well as the first to enter the Bronze Age (c. 3300–1200 BC) and Iron Age (c. 1200–500 BC). Historically human populations have tended to settle around bodies of water, which
33735-538: The two most prominent were the Sasanian Empire of the Persians in what is now Iran and Iraq , and the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey ) and the Levant . The Byzantines and Sasanians fought with each other a reflection of the rivalry between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire seen during the previous five hundred years. The Byzantine-Sasanian rivalry was also seen through their respective cultures and religions. The Byzantines considered themselves champions of Hellenism and Christianity. Meanwhile,
33930-495: The usage of logic with regards to textual interpretations, Salafi scholars also reduce the importance given to medieval legal manuals and texts, giving more priority to the texts from the early generations of the Salaf . Salafis favor practical implementation as opposed to disputes with regards to meanings, meaning may be considered either clear or something beyond human understanding. As adherents of Athari theology , Salafis believe that engagement in speculative theology ( kalam )
34125-402: The usage of the term to denote them has become outdated today. Abduh's more orthodox student Rashid Rida followed hardline Salafism which opposed Sufism , Shi'ism and incorporated traditional madh'hab system. Rida eventually became a champion of the Wahhabi movement and would influence another strand of conservative Salafis. In the modern academia, Salafism is commonly used to refer to
34320-409: The western Middle East and until the Muslim expansion it was widely spoken there as well. Until the late 11th century, it was also the main spoken language in Asia Minor ; after that it was gradually replaced by the Turkish language as the Anatolian Turks expanded and the local Greeks were assimilated, especially in the interior. English is one of the official languages of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. It
34515-704: The wider Salafiyya movement. However, contemporary Salafis follow a literalist approach with a "heavy reliance on hadith", looking up to Ibn Taymiyya and his disciples like Ibn Kathir , Ibn Qayyim , etc. whom they regard as important classical religious authorities. Major contemporary figures in the movement include al-Albani , Taqi al-Din al-Hilali , ibn 'Uthaymin , Ibn Baz , Ehsan Elahi Zahir , Muhammad ibn Ibrahim , Rashid Rida , Thanā Allāh Amritsari , Abd al-Hamid Bin Badis , Zubair Ali Zaee , Ahmad Shakir , Saleh Al-Fawzan , Zakir Naik , Abdul-Ghaffar Hasan , Sayyid Sabiq , Salih al-Munajjid , Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq , Muhammad al-Gondalwi , etc. In
34710-543: The works of Hanbali theologian Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya , whose call to follow the path of Salaf , inspired their name. The early phase of this tradition sought a middle-way that synthesised between 'ilm and Tasawwuf . Damascus , a major centre of Hanbali scholarship in the Muslim World, played a major role in the emergence and dissemination of the ideas of this early trend of the Salafiyya . Some scholars in this phase like Amir 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri , re-interpreted Ibn Arabi 's mystical beliefs and reconciled them with
34905-461: The writings of Ibn Taymiyya far beyond traditional Salafi circles. Salafis commonly refer to Ibn Taymiyya by the title Shaykh al-Islām . Alongside Ibn Taymiyya, his disciples Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya , Ibn Kathir , Al-Dhahabi , etc. constitute the most referenced classical scholarship in Salafi circles. The scholarly works of Ibn Taymiyya, which advocate Traditionalist Creedal positions and intensely critique other theological schools, embody
35100-481: Was a master of theology and hadith . For the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood , Bitar's studies of Islam and the Arabic language were an asset for Islamic Renaissance . Syrian Salafiyya tradition that emerged in late nineteenth century consisted of two divergent tendencies: an apolitical Quietist trend and a "Salafi-Islamist hybrid". The early Salafiyya led by Rashid Rida was dominated by revolutionary Pan-Islamists who had socio-political goals and advocated for
35295-711: Was a traditionist thesis kept alive within the Hanbali school of law. The Wahhabi movement, under the leadership of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab , forcefully revived Hanbali traditionism in 18th century Arabia . Influenced by the Hanbali scholars Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350); the teachings of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab were also closely linked to the formulation of proto-Hanbalism expounded by early Hanbali writers 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad (d. 290/903), Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311/923) as well as non-Hanbali scholars like Ibn Hazm , whom he cited frequently. Indian Hadith specialist Shah Waliullah Dehlawi , while rejecting Taqlid , also emphasised on involving
35490-516: Was also accompanied by an emphasis on strict adherence to Qur'an and Hadith . Kadızadelis (also Qādīzādali ) was a seventeenth-century puritanical reformist religious movement in the Ottoman Empire that followed Kadızade Mehmed (1582-1635), a revivalist Islamic preacher. Kadızade and his followers were determined rivals of Sufism and popular religion . They condemned many of the Ottoman practices that Kadızade felt were bidʻah "non-Islamic innovations", and passionately supported "reviving
35685-411: Was also the "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Moreover, as Louise Fawcett argues, among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately of anxiety, were, first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region, second, the fact that the region contained some two-thirds of the world's oil reserves in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to
35880-571: Was an important part of the doctrine of the forefathers ( madhhab al-salaf ). Despite this, the Salafi reformers during this era were more concerned with pan-Islamic unity and hence refrained from accusing the majority of their co-religionists of being heretics; professing their creedal arguments with moderation. Jamal al-Din Qasimi decried sectarianism and bitter polemics between Atharis and followers of other creedal schools , despite considering them unorthodox. For Rashid Rida, intra-Sunni divisions between Atharis and Ash'arites, were an evil that weakened
36075-453: Was championed by Rashid Rida and his disciples across the Islamic World, advocating a literalist understanding of the Scriptures. They were also characterised by a militant hostility to Western imperialism and culture. In addition to condemnations of tomb visits, popular Sufi practices, brotherhoods, miracles and mystical orders; Rida's criticism of Sufism extended to all of it and beyond the critiques of his fellow Salafi comrades. He questioned
36270-494: Was faster and easier by sea, civilizations along the Mediterranean , such as Phoenicia and later Greece , participated in intense trade. Similarly, Ancient Yemen , being much more conducive to agriculture than the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, sea traded heavily with the Horn of Africa , some of which it lingually Semitized. The Adnanite Arabs, inhabiting the drier desert areas of the Middle East, were all nomadic pastoralists before some began settling in city states , with
36465-457: Was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine , which pertained to the Suez Crisis . Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including Libya on the west and Pakistan on the east, Syria and Iraq on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the Sudan and Ethiopia ." In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined
36660-424: Was less divisive and provided a more reliable basis of faith than Ash'arism . According to Rida, Salafi creed was easier to understand than Kalam (speculative theology) and hence granted a stronger bulwark against the dangers posed by atheism and other heresies. Salafi reformers also hailed the medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya as a paragon of Sunni orthodoxy and emphasized that his strict conception of Tawhid
36855-419: Was more uncompromising in his defense of Salafi theology than Rida and Qasimi. The hardening of Salafi stance was best represented by Rashid Rida's disciple Muhammad Bahjat al Bitar (1894–1976) who made robust criticisms of speculative theology , by compiling treatises that revived the creedal polemics of Ibn Taymiyya. One such treatise titled " Al-Kawthari wa-ta'liqatuhu " published in 1938 strongly admonishes
37050-458: Was rare in the region and offered Arabia further connections to the outside world. The Lakhmid capital, Hira was a center for Christianity and Jewish craftsmen, merchants, and farmers were common in western Arabia as were Christian monks in central Arabia. Thus pre-Islamic Arabia was no stranger to Abrahamic religions or monotheism, for that matter. While the Byzantine Roman and Sassanid Persian empires were both weakened by warfare (602–628) ,
37245-424: Was rooted in reviving Ibn Taymiyya's theology as the solution to rectify the decline and disintegration of the Islamic World. Salafiyya movement took a much more conservative turn under Rida's mantle and became vehemently critical of the clerical establishment. Rida's doctrines deeply impacted Islamist ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood such as Hasan al-Banna (d. 1949) and Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) who advocated
37440-451: Was stressed in art. Much of this learning would find its way to the West. This was especially true during the crusades, as warriors would bring back Muslim treasures, weapons, and medicinal methods. The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq Turks , migrating south from the Turkic homelands in Central Asia. They conquered Persia, Iraq (capturing Baghdad in 1055), Syria, Palestine, and
37635-431: Was the first empire to control the entire Middle East, as well three-quarters of the Mediterranean region , the only other empire besides the Roman Empire to control most of the Mediterranean Sea . It would be the Arab Caliphates of the Middle Ages that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominant ethnic identity that persists today. The Seljuq Empire would also later dominate
37830-401: Was the largest the world had seen. It ruled all of what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, and Bahrain—with large swathes of Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Sudan, and Arabia. "The Assyrian empires, particularly the third, had a profound and lasting impact on the Near East. Before Assyrian hegemony ended, the Assyrians brought the highest civilization to
38025-454: Was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire , while "Middle East" referred to the Caucasus , Persia , and Arabian lands, and sometimes Afghanistan , India and others. In contrast, " Far East " referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China , Japan , and Korea ). With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to
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