In the seventh century, the Arabic city of
Mecca (or Makkah) experienced a flourishing economy deriving from the increase
of trade (spice, incense, gemstones, silk) due to the war between Persia and
Byzantium, a war that blocked other traditional trade routes and weakened both
empires (a fact that will allow a better understanding of the dazzling
expansion of Islam). This flowering promoted individualism and weakened family
and clan ties, basis of the old social structure and culture, creating social
unrest, disharmony, ethical weakness and personal insecurity. This is the
context in which Islam appears, through Muhammad. Born in Mecca in 569 or 570,
Muhammad belonged to the Hachim clan of the Quraysh tribe (or Quréish or
Quraish, depending of the transcripts), which guarded the Ka'bah (a square 15 meter high temple, with
a black basaltic rock incrassated in its oriental angle, where the gods of all
clans and peoples were gathered, up to 360…). The Umayyad clan controlled
commerce.
Muhammad’s father died fighting shortly before
his birth and he lost his mother, Amina, when he was six years old. He was then
protected by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, but he died two years later and
it was his uncle Abu Talib that took then care of Muhammad. When he was old
enough he went to work on the trade caravans that left Mecca; he earned himself
the surname Amin, the faithful, the
reliable. Around 595 he married a wealthy widow for whom he worked, Khadidja,
who may have been in her forties (although that may be a symbolic figure for
maturity). They had two sons, who died young, and four daughters, including
Zaynab. Khadidja was the only wife of Muhammad until she died, and she provided
great material and psychological support to Muhammad; she became the first
Muslim, the first one to accept the revelation transmitted to Muhammad. It was
a happy marriage, and Muhammad always kept a great veneration for Khadidja.
Every month of Ramadan (the ninth of the year) Muhammad
retired into a cave in the mountains of Hira, devoting the nights to prayer and
reflection. In one of those nights of 611 he heard inside him the call to
become a prophet. He went to explain this experience to his wife, and they went
together to an old sage, a cousin of theirs, who told them it had to be a
matter of Gabriel, the messenger of God. Shortly after, he started to preach
what he saw very clearly in his heart. He spoke of unity around the faith in
one only God, compassionate and merciful, of stopping the fratricide fights, of
helping people in need, of not killing the new born baby-girls and of equality
of rights among humans (including women, slaves, weak people, which should not
be treated as objects or ill treated…).
Amid severe ideological and psychological
tensions, Muhammad, raised in a "pagan" or "idolatrous"
religious framework and in times he probably considered frivolous and
thoughtless, formulated his beliefs in terms of a strict monotheism and a call
to a consistent personal behavior that would allow properly dealing with the
"last day", the final Judgment. Muhammad claimed against lightness,
recklessness, negligence. Muhammad was not the first monotheist in the Arab
world: he belongs to the tradition of the hanifs,
people devoted to contemplation and the exclusive worshiping of Allah. What
he does is to bring monotheism to hegemony, suppressing the numerous idolatric
traditions of his time.
For Muhammad, humans should humbly follow God's
will. This submission, donation, delivery, will become the name of Islam
itself. And a muslim is the one who
submits, who gives himself, that “delivers” himself to God, that makes God’s
will, that commits to God. Muhammad accepted, with the reluctance and fear that
prophets always feel, the task of talking to the people of his time and of his
country about religious matters, namely, the need to place their lives in a
different context than the purely materialistic one.
The first years were hard; he finds much
resistance in his environment - especially among supporters of the
"pagan", "idolatric" or "polytheist" local
traditions, and above all in his own qurayxite tribe - and few join his
proposals. People were much attached to their traditional gods such as Hubal, the god of thunder, rain and
rainbows, al-Lat, the goddess of
fertility, al-Uzza, goddess of love
and fertility and Manat, god of luck
and happiness that governs the destiny of men. His questioning of traditional
ways of doing things and traditional beliefs was not welcome. He proposed a new
community, the Ummah, which would
leave behind the differences of tribe and clan. Muhammad received insults and
threats, stool was put in front of his door, his preaching was interrupted,
conspiracies against his life were organized, some tried to buy him in order to
stop his preaching, but he stood firm in his mission.
In 619 or 620 his uncle Abu Talib and Khadidja
died, and a few months later Muhammad married another widow, Sawda, and a six year
old girl, Aisha (the marriage was consummated three years later); Aisha will be
his favorite and the better known of his wives. She was the daughter of Abu
Bakr, whom after Muhammad's death became the first caliph. Over the years, Muhammad
will expand his harem up to nine wives, including Hafsa, widow and daughter of
Umar, the future caliph, Umm Salama, Zaynab bint Jahsh, wife of his adopted son, the
Jewish Safiyya bint Huyayy, wife of Kenana Ibn al-Rabi (executed covering his breast with
embers after losing the battle of Khaybar), Umm Habiba or Maymuna bint
al-Harith. Two months before his death Muhammad still had his turn with his
wives, until it was suggested for him to stay in Aisha’s room. Lacking any
adult son, his enemies, to insult him, called him abtar, or tailless, without offspring. In addition to the
aforementioned Zaynab, at least two more daughters of Muhammad played a significant
role: Umm Kultum, who married Uthman, the future caliph, in 624, and Fatima,
who married Ali in 624 or 625.
Life in Mecca became difficult for Muslims, so
some of them (about 70 families) migrated to the neighboring city of Yatrib,
where they were welcome (before, around 615, there had been a curious migration
of some Muslims to Abyssinia). In 622, when Muhammad was about fifty-three
years old, he received an invitation of the citizens of Yatrib to go live and
govern there, since the city suffered from severe internal rivalries and needed
a strong leader. In exchange of adherence to Islam and a commitment to follow
his decisions and defend him and his followers (the "Pledge of War"),
Muhammad accepted to move to Yatrib, where he went with Abu Bakr, after eluding
the efforts of the Meccans to prevent it. Later on, Yatrib will be called
Medina, in fact Madinat al-Nabi (City of the Prophet) or Madinat al-Munawwira
(the Shining City). Muhammad’s march towards Yatrib was the founding gesture of
Islam, called "Hijra" (also
Hijrat or Hegira). It is the starting point of Islamic chronology.
Just arrived to Yatrib, Muhammad builds the
first mosque, to be opened in 623. He clashes with the Jewish community, which
does not adhere to his views, but he shows himself as a notorious governor,
adding to his prophetical dimension that of statesman. He lives in great
simplicity, and in his administration of public affairs he wisely combines
justice and piety, becoming someone with a capacity to exert an influence in
others and lead them to behave with goodness. He properly confederates the
tribes of the city and promotes order and spirit of cooperation, acquiring a
reputation that will extend throughout Arabia. From Yatrib he directs a
dazzling political and military expansion of Islam, beginning with the Battle
of Badr (624) with the qurayshite tribe of Mecca. Muhammad becomes not only a
religious and political leader but also a military one. He undertook several
expeditions of conquest, reaching to unify most of the Arabian tribes around
Islam. After complex negotiations, in 629 Muhammad can make again a pilgrimage
to Mecca and in 630 he peacefully occupies it, cleaning the Ka'bah of idols.
Mecca will be established as a place of pilgrimage for the entire Islamic
world. Muhammad died in Yatrib in 632. He will be the last of the prophets,
“the Seal of the Prophets”. He was buried next to the mosque he had built,
known since then as Masjid al-Nabi (the mosque of the Prophet, which will become
a model for other mosques).
A mosque (masjid)
is a “very pure sacred space”, a large and clean construction with a sign in
its walls, the mihrab, a kind of
decorated incision (as if it wanted to go through the wall), indicating the qibbla, the orientation towards Mecca; it
also has the minaret, the high and
svelte tower from where the muetzin calls
for prayer; collective prayers in the mosque are guided by an imam, “the one placed in front”, a person
chosen by the community due to its knowledge of the Qur’an and because deserving respect and confidence.
The five central practices of Islam, beyond the
habits and laws of every tribe and every people, are called the five pillars of
Islam. As the hadiths (traditions of
the Prophet) say: "Islam is witnessing that there is no other God than Allah
and that Muhammad is the one sent by Allah (shahadah);
it is to exert the prayer (salah); it
is to pay the legal tax (zakat); it is
fast (sawm) during Ramadan and make
the pilgrimage (hajj) to the House of
Allah, if possible". In other words:
- the recognition and manifestation that only God is God, that nothing
is divine outside God (Allah) and that Muhammad is prophet, envoy or messenger of
Allah (shahadah: “There is no other
God than Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”, “Ashhadu anna la ilaha il-la Allah wa anna Muhammad rasul Allah”). In
fact, Allah means “the God”; God was Ilah (close to the Jewish Eloh), to which the definite article al is added in order to underline his uniqueness.
- the ritual prayer (salah), very
brief, usually five times a day and orienting oneself towards Mecca. It is a good
way to constantly maintain the reference to the presence of the divinity.
- the established alms, mandatory (zakat,
approximately a 2,5 % of one’s wealth), destined to the poor and needed of the
community (there is also a free alms, the sçadaqa).
- fast during Ramadan (sawm),
sign of purification of the body and of sacrifice for the divinity. Neither
water nor food, from sunrise to sundown.
- pilgrimage (hajj, “to go
towards”) to Mecca, the place where
God’s culminant revelation took place, once in a lifetime, but only for those
having the physical, economical and other kinds of possibilities allowing to do
it.
About twenty years after the death of Muhammad begins the collection of the content of his preaching, which will constitute the Qur'an or Koran (“recitation”; Muhammad was asked to “recite”). It is the sacred book of Islam, with its 114 chapters or sura, ordered by their length in decreasing order, except for the first sura, Al-Fatiha, “the opening”, the entrance door to the Qur’an:
“In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to God, The
Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of
the Day of Judgment. You do we worship, and Your aid we seek.
Show us the straight way, the
way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not
wrath, and who go not astray.”
The recitative character of the Qur’an makes
extremely hard that its translations make justice to the Arab original, full of
emotion, fervor and mystery (it is said that if Jesus is God incarnated, the
Qur’an is God “made book”; it is also said that “the Qur’an is not about Truth,
it is Truth”). This explains why Muslims prefer to learn Arabic than
translating the Qur’an. It is a difficult text, more doctrinal than historic and
essentially devoted to proclaim the unity, omnipotence, omniscience and compassion
of God.
In the Qur’an 99 different ways to design God
are used. They are of interest in order to see the polyhedral character of the
divinity: 1. The Exceedingly
Compassionate, The Exceedingly Beneficent, The Exceedingly Gracious (to all of
humanity and all creatures) ( الرّحمان Al-Raḥmān) 2. The Exceedingly Merciful ( الرّحيم Al-Raḥīm) 3. The Sovereign (Al-Malik) 4. The Holy, The Divine, The Pure, The
Purifier ( القدّوس Al-Quddūs) 5. The Peace, The Source of Peace and
Safety ( السّلام Al-Salām) 6. The granter of
security (Al-Mu'min) 7. The Controller (Al-Muhaymin) 8. The Almighty, The Invulnerable, The
Honorable (Al-‘Azīz) 9. The Irresistible,
The Compeller ( الجبّار Al-Ŷabbār) 10. The Majestic, The Supreme (لمتكبّرا Al-Mutakabbir) 11. The Creator (Al-Jāliq) 12. The Evolver, The Maker (Al-Bāri') 13. The Fashioner, The Shaper, The
Designer (Al-Muṣawwar) 14. The Repeatedly
Forgiving (Al-Gaffār) 15. The Subduer (Al-Qahhār) 16. The Bestower (Al-Wahhāb) 17. The Provider (Al-Razzāq) 18. The Opener, The Victory Giver (Al-Fattāḥ) 19. The All-Knowing, Omniscient (Al-‘Alīm) 20. The Restrainer, The Straightener (Al-Qābiḍ) 21. The Extender / Expander (Al-Bāsiṭ) 22. The Abaser, The Humiliator, The
Downgrader (Al-Jāfiḍ) 23. The Exalter, The
Upgrader (Al-Rāfi’) 24. The Giver of
Honor (Al-Mu’izz) 25. The Giver of
Dishonor (Al-Mudhill) 26. The All-Hearing (Al-Sāmi’) 27. The All-Seeing (Al-Baṣīr) 28. The Judge, The Arbitrator (Al-Ḥakam) 29. The Utterly Just (Al-‘Adl) 30. The Gentle, The Subtly Kind (Al-Laṭīf) 31. The All-Aware (Al-Jabīr) 32. The Forbearing, The Indulgent (Al-Ḥalīm) 33. The Magnificent (Al-‘Azīm) 34. The Much-Forgiving (Al-Gafūr) 35. The Grateful (Aš-Šakūr) 36. The Sublime (Al-‘Alī) 37. The Great (Al-Kabīr) 38. The Preserver (Al-Ḥafīẓ) 39. The Nourisher (Al-Muqīt) 40. The Bringer of Judgment (Al-‘asīb) 41. The Majestic (Al-Ŷalīl) 42. The Bountiful, The Generous (Al-Karīm) 43. The Watchful (Al-Raqīb) 44. The Responsive, The Answerer (Al-Muŷīb) 45. The Vast, The All-Embracing, The
Omnipresent, The Boundless (Al-Wāsi’) 46. The All-Wise (Al-‘akīm) 47. The Loving (Al-Wadūd) 48. The All-Glorious, The Majestic (Al-Maŷīd) 49. The Resurrector (Al-Bā’ith) 50. The Witness (Al-Šahīd) 51. The Truth, The Reality (Al-Haqq) 52. The Trustee, The Dependable, The
Advocate (Al-Wakīl) 53. The Strong (Al-Qawī) 54. The Firm, The Steadfast (Al-Matīn) 55. The Friend, Patron and Helper (Al-Walī) 56. The All Praiseworthy (Al-‘amīd) 57. The Accounter, The Numberer of All (Al-Muḥsī) 58. The Originator, The Producer, The
Initiator (Al-Mubdi') 59. The Restorer, The
Reinstater Who Brings Back All (Al-Mu’īd) 60. The Giver of Life (Al-Muḥyī) 61. The Bringer of Death (Al-Mumīt) 62. The Living (Al-Ḥayy) 63. The Subsisting, The Independent (Al-Qayyūm) 64. The Perceiver, The Finder, The
Unfailing (Al-Wāŷid) 65. The Illustrious,
The Magnificent (Al-Māŷid) 66. The One, The
Unique (Al-Wāḥed) 67. The Unity, The
Indivisible (Al-Aḥad) 68. The Eternal, The
Absolute, The Self-Sufficient (Al-Ṣamad) 69. The All-Powerful,
He Who is able to do Everything (Al-Qādir) 70. The Determiner,
The Dominant (Al-Muqtadir) 71. The Expediter, He
Who Brings Forward (Al-Muqaddim) 72. The Delayer, He
Who Puts Far Away (Al-Mu'ajjir) 73. The First, The
Beginning-less (Al-Awwal) 74. The Last, The
Endless (Al-Ājir) 75. The Manifest, The
Evident, The Outer (Al-Ẓāhir) 76. The Hidden, The
Unmanifest, The Inner (Al-Bāṭin) 77. The Patron, The
Protecting Friend, The Friendly Lord (Al-Wālī) 78. The Supremely
Exalted, The Most High (Al-Muta’ālī) 79. The Good, The
Beneficent (Al-Barr) 80. The Ever-Returning,
Ever-Relenting (Al-Tawwāb) 81. The Avenger (Al-Muntaqim) 82. The Pardoner, The Effacer, The
Forgiver (Al-‘Afuww) 83. The Kind, The
Pitying (Al-Ra'ūf) 84. Owner of all
Sovereignty (Māliku l-Mulk) 85. Lord of Majesty
and Generosity (‘ū l-Ŷalāl wa-l-Ikrām) 86. The Equitable,
The Requiter (Al-Muqsi’) 87. The Gatherer, The
Unifier (Al-Ŷāmi’) 88. The Rich, The
Independent (Al-Ganiyy) 89. The Enricher, The
Emancipator (Al-Mugnī) 90. The Withholder,
The Shielder, The Defender (Al-Māni’) 91. The Distressor,
The Harmer, The Afflictor (Al-‘ārr) 92. The Propitious,
The Benefactor, The Source of Good (An Nāfi’) 93. The Light (An-Nūr) 94. The Guide, The Way (Al-Hādī) 95. The Incomparable, The Unattainable,
The Beautiful (Al-Badī’) 96. The Immutable,
The Infinite, The Everlasting (Al-Bāqī) 97. The Heir, The
Inheritor of All (Al-Wārith) 98. The Guide to the
Right Path (Al-Rašīd) 99. The Timeless, The
Patient (Al-Ṣabūr).
The successor of Muhammad will be his companion
since the beginning and father of Aisha, Abu Bakr; he will be the first caliph
(khalifah, “the one who follows”),
completing the unification of the Arabian peninsula as a single community. The
caliph succeeding Abu Bakr will be Omar (634-644), that will expand Islam to
Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the next one Uthman ibn Affan (644-656), of
the Umayyad clan. The rapid territorial expansion of Islam after the Prophet's
death was favored by two factors introduced by Islam that had as a consequence
an excess population in Arabia: the end of tribal wars and the prohibition of
infanticide, which mainly affected female infants. This expansion led to some
bureaucratization of power and organizational stratification, which caused, on
one hand, the need to establish orthodoxy and, on the other hand, the desire to
give viability to a radical following of the message of the Prophet. Already
under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, with its capital in Damascus,
established in 661, some of the last living companions of the Prophet lived
retired in Mecca and Medina, far from power and maintaining a clear critical
stance. Well known names among this generation of pious would be Abd ar-Rahman
(son of Abu Bakr, the first caliph), Abd Allah ibn Umar (son of Umar, the
second caliph), Abd Allah ibn Zubayr (son of Zubayr, companion of the Prophet,
and Asma, daughter of Abu Bakr, the first caliph) and Aisha (wife of Muhammad
and daughter of Abu Bakr).
Soon, and as part of the struggle for the
Caliphate and the tension between Ali, cousin of Muhammad and husband of Fatima,
and Abu Sufyan, a division of Islam into three main streams was established and
still exists, with uneven sociological weight:
1) Sunnis,
the mainstream, which in the first major political crisis for the seizure of
power by the Umayyad Caliph accepted the fait
accompli, preferring an unjust government to a generalized disorder; for
them, the caliph, holy presence, had to belong to the qurayxite tribe. Nowadays
they represent almost 90% of Muslims, grouped in four main jurisprudence
schools: hanefit, maliki, xafii and hanbalite.
2) Shiites,
from shiat Ali, partisans of Ali,
cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, who claimed the caliphate after the death
of Umar, the second caliph, but was displaced by the Umayyad Uthman. Supporters
of Ali killed Uthman in 656 and finally Ali became caliph, but he was murdered
by the khariyites, which ensured the
purity in the interpretation of tradition. Shiites,
who recognized as the sole authority the successors of Muhammad through Fatima
and Ali, represented an Islam polarized by the spiritual aspect, while the Umayyad
privileged the political aspect. Husayn, second son of Ali, was assassinated in
Kerbala. Shiites are currently
hegemonic in Iran and southern Irak.
3) Khariyites,
"those who fight to defend the cause of God," the group more related
to the initial community. They remained faithful to the Quranic idea that
"authority belongs only to God," and that any good Muslim could be
appointed as caliph. They were persecuted by the Umayyad, and some may have taken
refuge in the city of Tahert, in North Africa, destroyed by the Berbers in 909,
moving then to the Mzab. In 866 there was a khariyite
rebellion in north Mesopotamia, suppressed in 896 by the Abbasid caliph
al-Mu’tadid. Apparently some remain in Oman and Zanzibar.
The explosive expansion of Islam derives from
its offer of a new religion (simple and rational), a new language (rich and
flexible Arabic) and a new social system (democratic, cohesive and fraternal).
It was an acceptable proposal, adaptable to so distant places as Spain,
Indonesia, Mongolia and North Africa.
It is hard to tell the significance of the notion of jihad in this rapid expansion of Islam, as well as in later terrorist phenomenon associated with Islam. For Islam, the earth is divided into two parts: Dar el Islam, the world of Islam, and Dar el Harb, the world of war, where there are no institutions capable of establishing peace and justice. There reign violence and injustice, exploitation and tyranny, religious oppression, usury, gambling, alcohol (there may be, however, non-Muslim countries where justice is respected, guaranteeing religious freedom and not attacking Islam; those do not belong to the world of war and Islam establishes peaceful relations with them). An effort is needed to fight the world of war (jihad, a term meaning "effort aimed at a target" and "war"). To live according to God's will is to fight, since good is in perpetual struggle against evil. The believer is supposed to participate in jihad, to be an activist, a fighter.
There are two kinds of jihad or "holy war." The first and foremost is aimed at fighting against one’s own bad inclinations, against passions (the permanent holy war of the believer against his selfishness and to follow the revealed divine prescriptions); it is the "great jihad" or "war for hearts". The second is, when this effort has a military nature, the "little holy war" to make the reign of Islam prevail, a reign that brings peace and justice, order and fairness. Not permitted, however, are the simple assault, the war of conquest or the war to impose religion by force. War is authorized in six circumstances: 1) against the enemies of God (those who threaten the existence of the community, those who persecute or oppress Muslims, and the polytheists, in fact, originally, the paganism of the Arabian Peninsula) 2) to keep the frontiers; 3) against the apostates; 4) against the secessionists; 5) against the bands that disrupt public security, and 6) against the monotheists that refuse to pay the due tax.
The believer cannot be carried away by violence, the thirst for domination, the desire for revenge, material interest, predatory lust. Islamic war is linked to a set of ideals: it must be fair in its purpose, defensive in its initiative, correct in its development, peaceful in its goal, humanitarian in the treatment of the vanquished. The combativeness of the Islamic warrior is induced by piety, and thus accompanied by magnanimity; it is necessary to be relentless with the oppressor, but not vindictive nor cruel.
It is hard to tell the significance of the notion of jihad in this rapid expansion of Islam, as well as in later terrorist phenomenon associated with Islam. For Islam, the earth is divided into two parts: Dar el Islam, the world of Islam, and Dar el Harb, the world of war, where there are no institutions capable of establishing peace and justice. There reign violence and injustice, exploitation and tyranny, religious oppression, usury, gambling, alcohol (there may be, however, non-Muslim countries where justice is respected, guaranteeing religious freedom and not attacking Islam; those do not belong to the world of war and Islam establishes peaceful relations with them). An effort is needed to fight the world of war (jihad, a term meaning "effort aimed at a target" and "war"). To live according to God's will is to fight, since good is in perpetual struggle against evil. The believer is supposed to participate in jihad, to be an activist, a fighter.
There are two kinds of jihad or "holy war." The first and foremost is aimed at fighting against one’s own bad inclinations, against passions (the permanent holy war of the believer against his selfishness and to follow the revealed divine prescriptions); it is the "great jihad" or "war for hearts". The second is, when this effort has a military nature, the "little holy war" to make the reign of Islam prevail, a reign that brings peace and justice, order and fairness. Not permitted, however, are the simple assault, the war of conquest or the war to impose religion by force. War is authorized in six circumstances: 1) against the enemies of God (those who threaten the existence of the community, those who persecute or oppress Muslims, and the polytheists, in fact, originally, the paganism of the Arabian Peninsula) 2) to keep the frontiers; 3) against the apostates; 4) against the secessionists; 5) against the bands that disrupt public security, and 6) against the monotheists that refuse to pay the due tax.
The believer cannot be carried away by violence, the thirst for domination, the desire for revenge, material interest, predatory lust. Islamic war is linked to a set of ideals: it must be fair in its purpose, defensive in its initiative, correct in its development, peaceful in its goal, humanitarian in the treatment of the vanquished. The combativeness of the Islamic warrior is induced by piety, and thus accompanied by magnanimity; it is necessary to be relentless with the oppressor, but not vindictive nor cruel.
The second Islamic political capital, after
Medina, was Damascus, with the Umayyad dynasty (661-750), founded by the
governor of Syria Abu Sufyan, but in 762 the capital moves to Baghdad, with the
Abbasid dynasty (750-1285), causing the center of gravity of the empire to move
to Iraq and Iran (the ancient Persian Sassanid Empire). In the IX, X and XI
centuries the Islamic empire experiences a cultural effervescence, and Baghdad,
Cairo and Cordoba (where the Umayyad dynasty was maintained) become great
centers of scholarship. Around 800 the Mu’tazilah
school appears, where the Greek philosophical concepts are used to expose the
Islamic doctrine. The unity of God is emphasized to the point of considering
that the Koran was created and not eternal; they also upheld divine justice.
The Mu’tazila were predominant until
850, and helped to introduce logical rigor in the intellectual debate. In 870 died
Al-Bukhari, compiler of the words of the Prophet according to the tradition (hadith), supplement of the Qur'an and
source of confirmation of the Sunnah
(traditions of the Prophet). Al Ashar (873-935), originally a Mu’tazila, returned to orthodoxy in 912,
claiming that the Qur'an was uncreated word of God, and that the text had to be
considered a priority and interpreted literally (no metaphors or allegories,
the literal text establishing the limits, that could be argued philosophically
and rationally). No human free will, all human action is predestined by God,
since he is omnipotent (though this omnipotence allows him to want to leave
humans some room for action and responsibility, for which they will be rewarded
or punished). Al Ashar established Islamic theological orthodoxy for long.
From the beginning of the Islamic expansion a
gradual dominance of the political element over the religious element took
place. The ascetic dimension was lost. Already during the Umayyad dynasty the
Shiites, the Qadarites and the Khariyites complained. With the Abbasid dynasty
power, wealth, luxury and ostentation became hegemonic. To the complaint for
the situation was added a desire to delve into the dimension of the direct and
real knowledge of God beyond what the jurists and theologians offered. In the
eighth century this movement, called Sufism,
spreads to Pasra, Khufa and Khorassan, and reaches Baghdad. The great poet
Al-Halladj was crucified in 922. Junayd al-Bagdadi (tenth century) will say:
“To be a sufi is to abandon worries and the worst of them all is oneself. While
you are busy with yourself you are separated from Allah. The way towards Him
has only one step: to go out from yourself.”
Then the great figure of Al Ghazali
(1058-1111), a Sunni scholar, appears. He is interested by the philosophical
problems in the line of Al Kindi (IXth century), Al Farabi (Xth century), Ibn
Sina (Avicenna, XIth century) and Ibn Rushd (Averrois, XIIth century), but after
a personal crisis he joins the field of the mystics, leaving Baghdad to carry
an ascetic life in Mecca, seeking the purification of the heart that allows
full identification with God. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
four major Sufi orders crystallized:
the qadiriyyah, the suhrawardiyya, the shadhiliyya and the mawlaw’iyya
(mevlevi), this last one founded by the great Persian poet Mawlana Rumi (d.
1273).
The twelfth and thirteenth centuries are
politically unstable. Western Crusades are set for the conquest of Jerusalem,
and Spain carried out the “Reconquista” (not culminated until 1492). Turkish
Muslims occupy northern India, where many refugees will move after the Mongol
invasion of Genghis Khan (fall of Baghdad in 1285, which led to the
disintegration of the Islamic caliphate). Delhi and Cairo become the major
Islamic centers, gathering both Sunnis and Sufis. In the thirteenth century
Islam spreads to western and northern China, in the fourteenth century it
reaches Malaysia and Indonesia, in the fifteenth century it reaches northern
Nigeria and other spots in West Africa. This expansion is carried out both
through Muslim retailers and merchants and through the political control of new
territories by Muslim rulers. Persecution or violence are not usually used, the
expansion is the result of the persuasion and appeal of the Islamic proposal.
In the fifteenth century the Ottoman Turkish Sultans occupy Eastern Europe,
especially the Balkans, once Constantinople was conquered in 1453. Suleiman the
Magnificent (1520-1566) further extended Islam from the Black Sea to the
Adriatic. Ottoman rulers proclaimed themselves protectors of the Greek Church,
being considered more tolerant than the Polish occupants had been; local
populations soon converted quite freely to Islam.
The Ottoman Empire, the last Islamic Caliphate,
with the Osman (or Othman, hence the term "Ottoman") dynasty, is the
largest Muslim political reference during the late Middle Ages and the Modern
Age. In fact, its military splendor ranges from Osman, in the early fourteenth
century, to Suleiman, in the early sixteenth century, but in spite of its decay
this empire will stay until the proclamation of the Turkish Republic by Atatürk
in 1923.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Islam experiences the rise of renovation movements. In India they were initiated
by thinker, writer and Sufi master
Wali Allah of Delhi (1702-1762), whose sons translated the Qur'an into Urdu.
There was also a movement of renewal in East Bengal from 1820, initiated by
Shariat Allah, who proposed to fulfill religious duties faithfully and
regularly, to eliminate practices added by Hindu influence, to purify Islam of
Sufi practices and influence, to introduce economic reforms oriented to reduce
inequalities of wealth, contrary to the spirit of Islam, and to restore Muslim
political power in Bengal, which had fallen under British rule. In India there
was also, however, an Islamic movement conciliatory with Western culture, with
interesting figures such as Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), who despite his
generous spirit and liberal positions proposed the political separation between
the Muslim India and Hindu India, and Jamal al-Din al Afghani (1839-1897). Poet
and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (1873-1938), who had studied in Cambridge and
Germany and received the influence of Bergson, Nietzsche and Rumi, will become
the spiritual founder of Pakistan.
In Saudi Arabia renovation movements were
initiated by al-Wahhab (1703-1792), founder of Wahhabism; the current dynasty
that rules Saudi Arabia belongs to this movement. Wahhabism seeks to remove the
superstitious practices and moral relaxation from Islam, as well as contributions
made by Sufism, to focus on the Quranic origins. It rejects the additions to
Islam during the medieval period and attempts to reformulate Islamic belief and
practice in terms of modern thought and civilization. It also attempts to
restore Muslim governments in areas occupied by European powers.
In Egypt the renewal dynamics were initiated by
Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), who also had one foot in the Islamic tradition and
the other in modern knowledge; he was in favor of the cooperation between faith
and reason. He had an influence in the appearance of the salafiyya fundamentalist movement, which was developped by Rashid
Rida (1865-1935), making it closer to Wahhabite puritanism.
Currently, the Islamic world can be
characterized by a set of features:
- It maintains its traditional large regional
area of influence.
- It keeps the close link between religion and
politics.
- The tension between Sunnis and Shiites
persists, which has led to events like the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the
current war in Syria and Iraq.
- It continues to experience a high degree of
political division (in contrast to the claim of radical groups for a new Caliphate).
- It sees a strong presence of radical
movements (Al Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic State), with great verbal radicalism and use of terrorism.
- Embedded in the center of its territory is
the State of Israel, with which it has fought several wars.
- It experiences an unstable situation in
Afghanistan, after a long period of successive wars and the permanent tension
between tribes and with the Taliban.
- It experiences serious tensions with
different groups in East and West Africa.
- It has gained a significant geo-economic
importance thanks to oil and gas.
- There are strong migrations from North Africa
to Europe, from Pakistan to Europe, from Turkey to Germany.
- It has reached a certain presence in the US
African American community.
- It has recovered public presence in the
former Soviet Islamic republics.
- It develops tensions in western China
(Xinjiang).
- It is difficult to crystallize a distinct and
independent European Islam. It is not easy to reconcile Islam with Western
modernity (with secondary but visible issues as the veil, the ban of pork and
alcohol, Ramadan...).
- In recent times Islam has experienced
dynamics of political change ("Arab springs"), with uncertain
results. The articulation of Islam and democracy is an open question.
