Expansion Of Islam Research Articles

American Rum, African Consumers, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The present article examines the North American rum-for-captives trade, which like other New World-based trades, relied heavily on sugar cane-derived alcohol. It argues that African consumption patterns played a key role in shaping the American rum-for-captives trade during the years 1730-1807. Most interpretations of the rum trade offer what might be termed a “supply-side” interpretation of the slave trade, an emphasis on voyage planning and decision making on the part of European and American slave traders. While these were important factors, an examination of the rum trade highlights the important demand-side factors that shaped the slave trade. The most important market for American rum was the Gold Coast, but slave traders still needed to adopt a range of practices in order to cope with the problem of oversupply. The Upper Guinea Coast served as secondary market, but here the expansion of Islam, in part a response to the growing trade in captives, imposed limits on the demand for alcohol. After independence in 1783, American merchants were able to gain access to French and Dutch India goods, which allowed them to diversify their assortment of trade goods, especially after 1793. Carrying textiles in addition rum helped the United States to become the third-largest carrier immediately before abolition in 1808.

Inequalities in Islamic State and Society: A Critical Review on the Thoughts of Bernard Lewis

Islam and the West are two competitor civilizations of 21st century. West is much fear by the rapid expansion of Islam. It is imagined that very soon Islam is going to become a major religion of the Europe. Now European think tanks are constantly working to present a negative picture of Islam. Bernard Lewis is trying his best to prove that Islam is not a suitable civilization and religion for the world. As there are different classes of citizens within Islamic State and society and all the citizens are not equal in Islamic teachings and practice like women, slaves and Non-Muslims. Whereas, his presented theories are quite different than real teachings and practice of Islam. All the citizens of Islamic State are equal before law but there is difference of responsibilities according to their abilities. This article is presenting a critical and real discussion about the social inequalities blamed by Bernard Lewis, existing in Islamic state and society.

Historical Archaeology in Southeast Asia

Historical archaeology in Southeast Asia can be divided into two periods: the classic era of the Hindu and Buddhist civilizations, which began approximately 2,000 years ago, and the postclassic era, which began around A.D. 1400 with the expansion of Islam and Theravada Buddhism, followed by the arrival of European colonists in the 16th century. The use of “historical archaeology” to refer to this 2,000-year-long period differs from the sense of the term used in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and North America, where historical archaeology is normally applied to the last 500 years. This essay describes the attitudes toward the transition from antiquity to the present from the perspective of archaeology in various parts of Southeast Asia. The main focus is on the perspective of local archaeologists, rather than those from outside the region.

The Anti-Axial Age

Karl Jaspers famously characterized the period from the beginning of the eighth to the end of the third century before Christ as an “Axial Age” in which intellectual freedom and creativity blossomed as never before. This article argues that it was followed, five hundred years later, by an “Anti-Axial Age”, which devised a novel formula for intellectual and political repression. Its essence was the state’s capture of the millenial narrative, which had first been developed as religious doctrine within Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Involving the two great classical empires of Western Eurasia, Persia and Rome, and then empowering the expansion of Islam, the Anti-Axial Age left an ideological legacy that continues to haunt the contemporary world.

The Late Sasanian Treasury of Qouri Qaleh Cave: Votive Offerings for a Mithra Temple in Kermanshah, Western Iran

ABSTRACTDue to the small amount of evidence and artefacts associated with the cult of Mithraism, the study of this topic is a very complex issue. According to the current archaeological data, it would seem that evidence of Mithraism in Iran is often manifested in caves and in most cases as symbolic illustrations of Mithra on artefacts. The discovery of silver vessels related to late Sasanian period, in Qouri Qaleh near Paveh, decorated with a hawk catching a bird, birds, lions and a phoenix (senmerv), suggests that they were offered to a Mithra temple located in a cave, in an area where most of the known Mithra temples in Iran are located. Sasanian and Arab-Tabarian coins have also been found in the cave, suggesting that the cave might have been a Mithra temple occupied from the late Sasanian period until probably the second century Hegira. The widespread Arab domination and the expansion of Islam were probably the major reasons for its abandonment.

MULTICULTURALISM IN ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION DURING THE CLASSIC PERIOD

The main objectives of this study are to map and analyze the multiculturalism pattern in Muslim civilization history during the period. Analyses are developed with historical and socio-cultural perspectives. Several patterns of multiculturalism in Islamic civilization are found: <em>Firstly</em>, during the Prophet and al-Khulafa ar-Rasyidun era, Islam–as a doctrine and religion system–had accomodative patterns to the cultural form in <em>al-'ashabiyyah al-qabaliyyah </em>tradition and began to perform as Arabic culture-based civilization. <em>Secondly</em>, during the Daulah Umayyah era, disregarding that the civilization was developed using Arabic politics, the policies regarding Islamic expansion encouraged acculturation of Arabic-Muslim and non-Arabic or non-Muslim communities, leading to the multiculturalism in Islam at that time. Finally, during the Daulah Abbasiyah era, multiculturalism became more obvious as a pattern of Islamic civilization, indicated by the roles of non-Arabic cultures in Islamic civilization development.

The History and Distribution of ṭāb: A Survey of Petra’s Gaming Boards

The History and Distribution of <i>ṭāb</i>: A Survey of Petra’s Gaming Boards

Causes of Downfall of Umayyad Caliphate

Dynasty that ruled the Islamic caliphate from the death of the fourth Sunni caliph Hazrat Ali, in 661 until 750. Its founder was Ameer-Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan of the Meccan clan of Umayyah. By the time of Muawiyah's death in 680, he had established Damascus as the capital and a system of administration for the caliphate that gave it a degree of stability. A later caliph, Abd al-Malik, strengthened the organization of the empire, making Arabic the official language of government and replacing Byzantine and Sassanian coinage with coins with Arabic inscriptions. At times tribal rivalries threatened the unity of the empire. The dynasty was responsible for the expansion of the Islamic state westward through North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. In 711 the Umayyads crossed into the Iberian peninsula and rapidly conquered most of it, establishing a forward base in southern France. They were defeated between Tours and Poitiers in 732 by Charles Martel, halting the expansion of Islam into western Europe. In the East, they moved from Iran into Central Asia and northwest India. Little progress was made in the North due to the strength of the Byzantine Empire. The Umayyads’ great expansion was primarily military and political, not religious; conversion to Islam was discouraged for some time since it would reduce the treasury's intake of taxes on non-Muslims. Its armies were originally exclusively Arab and Muslim, but clients were ultimately included, mostly of Iranian and Berber origin. Later Muslim historians accused the Umayyads of transforming the Islamic state into an Arab kingdom. The Umayyads did rely largely on the traditional political ideas of Arabs, but they also claimed to be upholders of Islam. Overthrown by Abbasids in 750.

Islam and Local Tradition: A Comparative Perspective of Java and Sulawesi

This article examines the dynamic relationship between Islam and local tradition in Indonesia with special reference to Java and Sulawesi. Based on historical and anthropological sources, the article seeks to understand variety of interpretation and application of Islam among local Muslims within their particular context. With this aim, the article tries to examines the intricate process of religious change as world religion interacts with local forces. The article argues that since the “localization” of Islam was continuing nature in the expansion of Islam beyond the Arab homeland, the same development in Southeast Asia can be expected. By focusing on the frameworks of ‘practical Islam’ rather than ‘normative Islam’ and both accommodation and conflict between shari’ah and adat as a whole system, rather than as separate entities, the article found a common feature of Islam as it is interpreted and applied by local Muslims in Java and Sulawesi. In this two region, Islam became the dominant force but did not completely obliterate the indigenous beliefs and practices. Despite this common feature, Javanese people have been more diverse than Sulawesi people in terms of religious spectrum particularly due to the fact that animism, Hindu-Buddhism, and Islam have been incorporated into Javanese cultural system.

An Epitaph for ISIS? The Idea of a Caliphate and the Westphalian Order

The project of restoring the Islamic caliphate has attracted considerable attention, and caused both hope and anxiety, since the Islamic State (IS) proclaimed a caliphate in 2014. The idea of a caliphate has a powerful attraction for many millions of the world’s Muslims, including those who emphatically disapprove of IS, and is sometimes viewed as a remedy for the marginalization and humiliation that the Muslim world has endured at the hands of the West. Thus, although the military defeat of IS seems likely at this point, a widespread desire for a restored caliphate will undoubtedly persist.On the other hand, prominent Western political leaders, diplomats and scholars have expressed severe forebodings about such a restoration. Among other causes for such concern is the fear that a restored caliphate would challenge, and might eventually overturn, the Westphalian system of state sovereignty, which is the legal basis of the current world order. From this perspective, a restored caliphate could pose a revolutionary challenge to a state-centric system of international law. Indeed, it might pose a more substantial threat to the Westphalian system than those that the Soviet Union or the Islamic Republic of Iran presented in their early phases.This paper explores whether the project of restoring a caliphate, if successful, would indeed have such a destabilizing effect. First, it considers the origins and self-understanding of the IS caliphate, examines IS’ historiographic narrative of Islamic expansion, greatness, decline and eventual renewal, and identifies structural reasons for IS’ probable failure. Then it examines the possibility of what has been called a “Great Power” caliphate, i.e., a restored caliphate in a major Muslim state, such as Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan or Indonesia. Here too, it is argued, the Westphalian Order would probably prove to be resilient enough to withstand a challenge.

Understanding Ottoman Heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Conversions to Islam in the Records of the Sarajevo Sharia Court, 1800-1851

The trend of mass conversions to Islam took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period between the 15th and 17th centuries, and has, thanks to the work of a couple of researchers of this period, been extensively studied and expounded on. On the other hand, the academic community has very little information on conversions to Islam in the period that followed. The goal of this study was to shed light on the conversions to Islam before the Sarajevo Sharia Court in the first half of the 19th century. In doing so, it devotes particular attention to the very act of conversion, its foundations in the Sharia law, the intensity of the conversions, and the identities of the converts themselves. Upon studying the Sarajevo court records, we see that the trend of the expansion of Islam did continue in the 19th century, albeit to a much more limited extent. Between 1800 and 1851, 123 people willingly converted to Islam before the Sharia Court in Sarajevo. In addition, there were also ten underage children (according to Sharia regulations), who were legally converted to Islam after one of their parents became a Muslim. There were conversions happening almost every year, with only five years in this period for which we have no registered conversions, while between one and seven people converted within one Gregorian calendar year. Previously, the new Muslims had been members of other monotheistic religions found in the region (Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews), and hailed from town and village surroundings.

Convivencia: Reflections About its 'Kulturbedeutung' and Rereading the Normative Histories of Living Together

This paper covers a wide range of questions from the nearly inflationary use of the word Convivencia including the speeches of the Pope, the motto of a cultural capital in Europe, the intensive search for communal semantics in a time of heavy conflicts and bloody realities: all this can be read as an expression of an urgent need for a renaissance of times where different religions and cultures seemed to have lived peacefully together in Al-Andalus. Therefore in a first part Convivencia will be reflected between myth and methodology (I.), whereas in a second part the “Kulturbedeutung” of Convivencia will be discussed (II.). The need for models of con-vivencia must today be formulated in such dramatic way because of a real fear to drive globally towards con-mortality. A historical curiosity and a critical look at the mechanisms that explain why such a model might have functioned will lead us to the important role of a juristic figure in the normative program of the Islamic traditions; a normative legacy that was transplanted from the experience of Medina to the people conquered during Islamic expansion: dhimmitude. The interest is centered on the normative web that was woven amongst the different religious groups and to the socio-historical conditions to realize such a hidden, what I would like to call: “constitution” of Convivencia. Social practices as conubium and commensality are important practices of dealing with otherness in a non-rejecting and destroying but socially joyful way. With a strong accent on the Islamic perspective this paper tries to show how much this model is impregnated by religious ideas and also by legal concepts that need to be worked out from its historical preconditions. Finally, ten claims are formulated (part III) that will lead to new and sometimes deeper questions. We approach this field of research from an Arabo-Islamic perspective, writing the history of Convivencia in its polyphony and opening it to complementary histories of Jewish and Christian perspectives.

Past imperfect, present tense: the archaeology of Africa's past 200 years

ABSTRACTThe archaeology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is a rapidly growing sub-field of African historical archaeology in tandem with a trend seen elsewhere in the world. Currently research on this time period in Africa is dominated by studies of slavery and emancipation, colonialism and capitalism and industrialisation. This research is described and research trends such as archaeologies of conflict, missionisation, Islamic expansion, colonial urbanism, identity and the contemporary world are identified as directions for the future.

The Islamic State's Eastward Expansion

The terrorist attack in Jakarta on January 14, 2016, that killed eight people is just the beginning—part of the Islamic State's (IS) strategy to create chaos and expand into Southeast Asia, complem...

Understanding the Qurʾan, the First Book: Qurʾan and the Orientalists by Majid Maʾaref

Reviewed by: Understanding the Qurʾan, the First Book: Qurʾan and the Orientalists by Majid Maʾaref Dr Farhad Divsalar Understanding the Qurʾan, the First Book: Qurʾan and the Orientalists by Majid Maʾaref, 2015. Tehran: Naba Cultural Institute Press, xxi. IRR 200,000. ISBN 978-6-00-264052-9. In the present study, Professor Majid Maʾaref revisits his articles and research gathered over the last ten years about various orientalists' views and opinions on the Holy Qurʾan in Persian. The book is destined to set a new pattern of thinking about the writings and views of orientalists on the Qurʾan in particular and on Islam in general. The author believes that orientalists have made notable efforts in Qurʾanic studies (despite having different motives, including colonialist, commercial, religious or missionary, and scholarly), which has resulted in the expansion and familiarization of Islam in the world, especially in non-Muslim countries. Majid Maʾaref is Theology Professor at the University of Tehran and is renowned for his studies concerning the understanding of the Qurʾan as the scriptural foundation of Islamic books. He was born in Shiraz in 1953 and has published several articles and books about Qurʾanic studies and the Qurʾan and orientalists. The present volume, Understanding the Qurʾan, the First Book: Qurʾan and the Orientalists, was published in 2015. It consists of a preface, three sections, references (in both English and Persian) and an index. In the preface, Professor Maʾaref presents the goals of his study and explains the division of his book into three sections, including its different chapters and themes. He also describes in further detail in his preface how the book is the result of his past ten years' work and includes published articles and investigations focusing on orientalists and their views, opinions and texts relating to the Qurʾan, which he refers to as Orientalists' Qurʾanic studies'. Prof Maʾaref adds that in the present era orientalists have played an important role in the expansion of Islam, and the extent and quantity of orientalists' Qurʾanic studies, including articles, books, Qurʾanic encyclopedias and texts, has resulted [End Page 364] in the familiarisation of Islam and the Qurʾan in the world, especially in non-Muslim countries. In one section of the preface, the author says that orientalists' Qurʾanic studies, regardless of their purposes, are of great importance, and their studies have had dual benefits: first to infer important properties of the Qurʾan from an outside look and from the views of the nonbelievers, and second to be faced with the doubts and problems raised by the orientalists, and in some cases their incomplete and biased analysis of the Qurʾan, which itself has caused new issues to be defended by Muslim scholars about the Holy Book. Having said that, it is not a new thing for the Holy Qurʾan to be faced with such intellectual challenges from opposing parties, as this has been the case from the beginning when the Qurʾan was revealed and in each era what has happened is that committed scholars have worked hard to defend the Holy Qurʾan through dismissing the misleading doubts brought about from opponents. (p. 16–17) The first section of the book, entitled 'The General Views on the Opinions and Works of Orientalists', consists of six chapters. In this section, the author gathers and discusses orientalists' differing views on the Holy Qurʾan, using six of his articles published in various journals in collaboration with colleagues between 2005 and 2013. He also introduces his theory that orientalists' motives towards study of Islam and the Qurʾan can include the colonialist, commercial, religious or missionary, and scholarly,1 and claims that 'the most important motives of orientalists are missionary as they want to magnify the weaknesses of Muslims and attempt to attribute contradictions and distortions to the Qurʾan. They also try to prove the truthfulness of Judaism and Christianity for their readers through invalidating Islam's fundamental teachings' (p. 26–30). It is notable that in the first section of his book the author appreciates the great and...

Misja i monastycyzm manichejski w dolinie Nilu i jego wpływ na tamtejsze chrześcijaństwo na przełomie III/IV wieku

Since the discovery of the substantial corpus of Manichaean writings, espe­cially the Kephalaia (editio princeps Polotsky-Böhlig, 1934-1940), the Cologne Mani Codex (= CMC), and the hitherto incompletely published library from Dachla (Ian Gardner, 2000), there can be no doubt as to the activities of the mis­sionaries of the great Persian gnostic Mani in the Southern Nile Valley and Red Sea regions. This fact not only confirms the views of J. Helderman “that the Mani­chaean missionaries entered Egypt from the South-East, i.e. initially to Upper Egypt” (‘Manichäische Züge im Thomasevangelium’, 483f., note 42), but also the historical observations concerning the origins and development of monasticism. The latter was not without Manichaean influence, not merely in Egypt, but also in Nubia and Ethiopia. A mosaic, seemingly depicting Mani (from the collection of Elie Borowski), testifies to the pictorial needs of the Manichaeans as do the mural paintings from Pachoras/Faras depicting the likeness of Onophrios. These demonstrate the popu­larity of the crinite ascetic”, a figure also found in the CMC. It is imperative to recall the decisive importance of the southern kingdoms along the Red Sea during the Axial Age (Karl Jaspers), in order to kindle his­torical awareness in Europe of this currently overlooked region on the eve of its islamicisation – something which for decades I have noted the importance of in numerous publications (cf. foot-note 40). Here, local Christianity (viewed anachronistically) was marked by a heretical-gnostic diversity from the very be­ginning, which in turn weakened the spread of Christian teaching in the region. Islam was initially seen here by some as a Christian heresy (as pointed out by A. v. Harnack) and which even became accepted (e.g. in Ethiopia or Nubia, as noted by H. Jansen, Muhammed [German ed.: Münich 2008], 141). Thus, the local doctrinal pluriformity of Christianity during the jāhiliyya prepared the way for the later Islamic expansion. Manichaeism belongs unequivocally to the “periphery cultures of the Chris­tian world” (Pogranicza chrześcijaństwa) as well as constituting a part of ex­panding Christianity in the Late Antique world. Manichaeism still holds many secrets, but at the same time their answers, as illustrated by this article. Hence, the gnostic element of Early Christianity is worthy of continued intensive study, something which unfortunately in Poland is still quite inadequate.

The Oxford handbook of American Islam

This Handbook offers an up-to-the-minute analysis of Islam in America by 30 of the best scholars in the field. It covers the initial growth of Islam in the US from the earliest arrivals through the beginnings of African American Islam, as well as the waves of pre- and post-WWII immigrants when Muslims had little sense of religious identity in relation to their American compatriots. Providing basic information about Sunni, Shi‘ite, sectarian and Sufi movements in America, the volume considers the role of ethnic and racial identity in religious formation. Special attention is given to the role and status of women, marriage, and family. The rise of religious and educational institutions, leadership and youth movements, along with the expansion of Islam through outreach in prisons and through volunteerism, have served to give cohesion and a growing sense of what it means to be part of American Islam. The final section of the book deals with the component pieces of contemporary Islam in America such as politics and government, intellectual life and interfaith endeavors. The process of integration and assimilation that has been intensified as a response to 9/11 has brought about a creative response in which Muslims are eager to be Muslim and American at the same time. The volume concludes with elements of Muslim culture that are part of the current creative response to the reality of American Islam, including Islamic dress and fashion, art and architecture, film and filmmaking, health and medicine, politics, and Muslim-Christian relations. Bracketing these articles on integration and assimilation are thorough investigations of both the effects of the war on terror and the continuing Islamophobia that it has engendered, and of the relationship of American Islam to international Islam.

FAHAM WAḤDAT AL-WUJŪD DAN MARTABAT TUJUH DALAM KARYA SHAYKH ʿABD AL-ṢAMAD AL-FALIMBĀNĪ

Sayr al-Sālikīn ilā ʿIbādat Rabb al-ʿᾹlamīn, a work by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Falimbānī (1704–1789), is a Malay masterpiece which has had considerable influence and lasting impact on the expansion of Islam in the Malay world. The Muslim community’s wide acceptance of this work is due to its contents which deliberate on the essence of Taṣawwuf as expounded by authoritative Sufi scholars, the most significant of whom is Imām al-Ghazzālī with his Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Like many other Sufi scholars, al-Falimbānī also approves of both the waḥdat al-wujūd (The Transcendent Unity of Existence) and Martabat Tujuh (the Seven Degrees of Existence) formulations, which today are often accused as deviant by the pseudo-Salafī group—better known as Wahhābī. This article attempts to examine the truth of the group’s allegations by presenting waḥdat al-wujūd and Martabat Tujuh as the Sufis themselves expound as well as scrutinising the various arguments put forth by the aforementioned group in equating the two formulations with pantheism and monism. This study thus finds that both are ijtihāds of the Sufi scholars in interpreting and understanding some of the Qurʾanic verses and Prophetic ḥadīths related to creation which are not easily understood by the public, and as such, are not meant for public discussions. In fact, such matters form the abstruse and intricate part of the science of Tawḥīd which, as such, ought to be learnt only by al-muntahī, referring to those Sufis who have successfully reached the end of their spiritual journey, not by the spiritual novices, let alone the general public. With findings gathered in this study, it is hoped that public discussion of both formulations by the untrained minds, which eventually gives rise to confusion and accusations of heresy and polytheism, could be put to an end and misunderstandings regarding them could be halted and redressed.

Trade and Expansion of Islam in East Africa

Trade and Expansion of Islam in East Africa

Imágenes de Europa en textos árabes medievales

Different kinds of Arabic textual sources, written during the Middle Ages, provide references about territories and peoples from Europe, using information transferred since Ancient times, combined with medieval data updated by travelers, geographers and chroniclers. It is a wide and intense subject, as it covers the news and images produced from interest earned between spaces contiguous, separated and at the same time connected by land and sea, external and internal, borders through contacts of all kinds that began directly with the Islamic expansion into Byzantium and up to West, from the 8th century. These images thus prepared in writing, since the 9th century, ac-cumulated in visions and sensations of the Arabic-Islamic medieval world, due to the usual continuation of traditional memories, resorting to stereotypes about the other, fundamentally marked by prejudices and hostilities, and sometimes overcomed by close interests and commercial and cultural contacts.