Muslim History Research Articles

The works of Shihab ad-din al-Marjani on Islamic scholastic theology

The well-known Tatar historian and theologian Shihab al-Din al-Marjani (18181889), who worked as an imam and teacher of religious disciplines in Kazan, left behind more than 30 scientific and didactic written works. Some of his works were published in Kazan, Istanbul and Cairo. The subjects of the treatises of Marjani touch upon the Islamic faith, law, ethics, Quranic sciences and the history of Islam and Muslim peoples.The most important contribution to Islamic science is his books on Islamic scholastic theology and Sunni dogma. There are seven works on the abovementioned topics from Shihabuddin Marjani’s heritage on Islamic sciences: “al-Hikma al-baligha”, “al-‘Adhb al-furat”, “al-Mathal al-a‘la”, “Haqq al-bayan”, “at-Tariqa al-muthla”, “Haqq al-‘aqida” and “Sharh mukaddimat ar-risalya al-shamsiyya”.This article provides an overview of these works, gives a brief description of them, discusses the prints. It also sheds the light on their issues and points out the inaccessibility of some of them to researchers. Particular attention is paid to the work “al-Hikma al-baligha” (“Mature Wisdom”), which is a commentary on the well-known text in Sunni world, al-‘Aqida al-nasafiyya.The study uses descriptive and historical scientific methods with elements of theological analysis. Accessible sources in Arabic were directly investigated, and the works of contemporaries of the Tatar scholar were also used.

(Moriscons and Inquisition in Spain (1492- 1614: الموريسكيون ومحاكم التفتيش في إسبانيا (1492- 1614م)

The Moricissue is one of the most sensitive topics in the study of the history of Arabs and Muslims in general, and of Morocco in particular. The tragedy of the Moriscans and the fall of Granada is a source of condemnation of the Arab conscience. They also call for the shame and shame of abandoning Muslims in this country, starting from the first day of the fall of Granada in the hands of the Spanish Christians in 1492. Perhaps in this research, we can take a brief look at the end of the Arab and Islamic presence in Andalusia during the period from the fall of Granada in 1492 until the final expulsion during the period 1614.

A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East, by Heather J. Sharkey

A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East, by Heather J. Sharkey

BETWEEN THE CLASSICAL MU'TAZILITES AND NEO-MU'TAZILITES: AN ANALYSIS OF HARUN NASUTION’S MODERN ISLAMIC THOUGHT IN INDONESIA

Lately, the classical schools of Islamic theology are generally associated with various modern movements such as Neo-Kharijites and Neo-Mu'tazilites especially in terms of their negative influence. This paper aims at critically analyzing the way in which modern Muslim scholars claim the legacy of the classical Mu‘tazilite school. It specifically offers a critical overview of the spirit and contents of both early Islamic movements. It is attempted to draw a more objective picture of the classical Mu‘tazilite school, based on their primary sources. The Indonesian Harun Nasution is taken as an example of a Neo-Mu‘tazilite scholar. This paper argues that the original Mu’tazilite spirit is not accurately represented by Harun Nasution. The Mu‘tazilite was the first theological school who tried to defend and preserve the original teachings of Islam in the face of the many challenges of their time. Today, the Mu‘tazilite school is often misrepresented by portraying it as a purely rationalistic school and liberal thought. It is the view of the author that the misrepresentation of the Mu‘tazilite school as being a radical school of thought that propagated liberal society solely guided by reason, will bring bad consequence to the understanding and development of Muslim society in general. It can be either giving opportunity to the rise of liberal society with the claim of past root of the history of Muslims as occurred in Nasution’s case or rejecting reason from being important source of knowledge acknowledged by Islam.
 
 Keywords: Harun Nasution, Indonesia, Mu‘tazilite, Neo-Mu‘tazilite, rationalism.
 
 Cite as: Abd Rahman, A. A. (2020). Between the classical Mu'tazilites and Neo-Mu'tazilites: An analysis of Harun Nasution’s modern Islamic thought in Indonesia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 336-355. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp336-355

Women in Britain’s First Muslim Mosques: Hidden from History, but Not Without Influence

Two of the earliest Muslim communities in Britain evolved around the first mosques in Liverpool and Woking (both—1889). The history of these early British Muslims is being recovered but little is known about the women (usually converts) in these communities. This article will draw upon original findings from archival research, to examine ‘leadership’ that women in these communities undertook and their influence in shaping their nascent British Muslim communities. The practical, theological and philosophical negotiations around gender roles, female leadership, and veiling and the social contexts within which they took place are examined. By uncovering historical responses to issues that remain topical in British Muslim communities, this article provides historical grounding for contemporary debates about female Muslim leadership in British Muslim communities.

Герои исламской истории в коллективной памяти мусульман России

The cultural memory of Muslims forms a certain way of communication, thinking, which is instrumentalized by the community of believers for religious discourse in a mosque, printing, media projects, and education. The reproduction of collective memory occurs through the heroes of history – the figures of memory. The latter serve as spatial and temporal landmarks of the group’s memory and become models and role models. This article provides a brief analysis of the places of memory of the heroes of Islamic history in the cultural identity of Muslims of the Russian Federation. The solution to this problem will bring us closer to understanding the self-identification, religious life and mentality of the Russian community of believers. The main personalities in Muslim history are the prophets, associates, pious rulers and military leaders, great scholars, theologians, and the righteous. To determine the significance of personality for cultural memory, the research was faced with the task of reducing their list with specific tools for studying big data. For this, the Google Trends analysis tool was used, and on its basis a hierarchy of requests from the heroes of Islamic history is carried out. The interpretation of the data is carried out. The article discusses which memorialization strategies are used by the Muslim community to reproduce a cultural transmission, as well as existing injuries and forms of silence. The absence of a single Russian Islamic metanarrative is an obstacle to the unification of Muslim believers and their integration into the national cultural agenda

A Muslim's Reflections on Saddharamapundariksutra—The Lotus Sutra

This paper seeks to introduce the general reader to the history of Muslim–Buddhist dialogue, reviewing early instances of interreligious conversation between the two traditions, while also offering a speculative reflection on the Lotus Sutra from an Islamic perspective and highlighting some points of contact between the spirituality of this Buddhist text and the overarching transformative vision of the Qur’an. The author questions the conventional understanding that Islam effectively ignores all religions apart from Judaism and Christianity, noting, for instance, that according to Muhammad Assad, the term kafir—ordinarily translated as “infidel”—actually refers to anyone rejecting spiritual truth, and as such it could not be automatically applied to anyone outside the three Abrahamic traditions. The author also surveys a number of early studies of Buddhism written from an Islamic perspective, such as the work by Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani (1086–1153 CE), concluding with a striking quote by the mystic Rumi (1207–1273), who claimed that the path to the Mecca and the path to the Buddhist monastery were one and the same. The first section of the paper concludes with the observation that contemporary Islamic scholarship on Buddhism is almost exclusively based on Western sources and on a Western understanding of the religion, while failing to engage original Buddhist texts or to develop a fully Islamic perspective. In the second section of the paper, the author discusses the Lotus Sutra as a source for wisdom that can be fruitfully read by Muslim scholars and practitioners alike. Relying on the classical Qur’anic notion that all nations received prophets before the coming of Muhammad, the author views the sutra as a channel of divine wisdom, highlighting the parallelism between certain claims of the Mahāyāna tradition—such as the belief in the Buddha nature—and some lesser-known Islamic traditions, such as the belief in the light of Mohammed (nur-Muhammad). The author expresses the hope that Islamic–Buddhist dialogue will foster greater interreligious understanding, while underscoring that he does not espouse a perennialist or pluralist theology of religions.

Prophetic Sunnah and Hadiths on the Historical Roots of Intra-Islamic Disunity: Sunnis, Shiites, Emirs and Vezirs

The prophetic Sunnah and hadiths represent the second most important conceptual part of Islamic worship after the Qur`an. Hadiths contain a huge amount of knowledge about the life of the Prophet Muhammad which allows to reconstruct the era of the origin of Islam and formation of the first Muslim community that makes it possible to feel the atmosphere of the relationship between the associates of the Prophet (ashabs) and the rest members of the community. The early history of Islam is not only an ambitious idea of creating by the Prophet a community of co-religionists who believed in his divine mission. At the same time, it is an ontologically inherent history of human passions and aspirations which were not deprived of those who later entered in sacred Muslim history and medieval historical chronicles. This article attempts to show with two examples how the interpersonal and tribal conflicts that occurred in the distant past of the Muslim community and their situational interpretations by the Prophet’s contemporaries left an imprint on the nature of Islamic history and Islamic civilization, provoking a deep clash of interests of different religious groups and intra-communal confrontation as a whole.

THE MING COURT AS PATRON OF THE CHINESE ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE: THE CASE STUDY OF THE DAXUEXI MOSQUE IN XI’AN

The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi'an was rebuilt during the Yongle reign (1402-1424). The JiajingStela was erected in 1523 A.D. to record the architectural works that performed for the mosque through the ages the reconstruction of the mosque which dominated by Admiral Zheng He, who was an influential eunuch of the Ming court during the first half of the 15th century. The inscription itself was composed by another important Chinese Muslim, Hassan. The Jiajing Stele is an important document for the research of the architecture arts and history of Chinese Muslims. The author’s ongoing research project attempts to examine the architecture of the Mosque during the Ming period (1368-1644). As this field of historical study lacks effective extual sources, this study uses epigraphic sources to examine historical events within the text and explain its historical value.

Marginalization and Reform of Religion: A Comparative Study of Moses Mendelssohn and Syed Ahmad Khan

The term marginalization is often used for a community or group which is pushed to the edges of the society through certain social, political, and/or religious restrictions. The history of German Jews and Muslims of the Indian subcontinent stands witness that, to varying degrees over time, they were bound to live on the edges of their respective societies. This discrimination was not just because of their different social, cultural, and political status but religion was also a major factor behind it. In such conditions, Moses Mendelssohn and Syed Ahmad Khan worked for the betterment of their respective Jewish and Muslim communities. Although the work of both scholars is a recurring theme of discussion in the academic world, still there is no study available in which their efforts have been compared. By presenting a feature by feature comparison of the works of both scholars, the current paper first figures out their methodology and then explores their motive behind using pure reason to interpret sacred scriptures. It is also argued that there are fewer differences and more commonalities in their works. Their primary aim was to equip their people with modern education, since they thought that through educational reform they would be able to improve the social, political, and economic conditions of their people. Although they achieved noteworthy success, their efforts changed the religious direction of their people. Especially after the reform of Mendelssohn, a significant number of Jews distanced themselves from their ancestral religion.

Integrating Dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Within Umranic Framework

This paper aims to suggest an integration of dimensions, especially economic, social, environmental, and politics that are embedded in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within a framework called Umran. This Umranic framework hails from the idea of distinguished Muslim philosopher, historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun, that is based on Islamic doctrines. As the present integration of the dimensions seems to be problematic, an exploration into the integration within Umranic framework is believed to be potentially a contributive endeavor. Based on an overview of literatures and a content analysis, this paper found that integrating dimensions of SDGs within the Umranic framework appears in the triangle of relationship between God, humans, and environment. This triangle exists in the form of an Islamic economic system. In this system, economic activities of natural resource utilization in various types of ownership undertake the sustainability dimension, that is the environmental protection and the promotion of equitable distribution, followed by the implementation of management of ownership and distribution rights according to Islamic rules. The pre-requisite on the part of the players is the high levels of spirituality. The application of this Islamic economic system followed by its political dimension will guarantee the achievement of SDGs even though it needs adjustment to a number of SDGs’ indicators that are not in accordance to Islamic teachings.

Muslim Trade and City Growth Before the Nineteenth Century: Comparative Urbanization in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia

AbstractScholars have long sought to understand when and why the Middle East fell behind Europe in its economic development. This article explores the importance of historical Muslim trade in explaining urban growth and decline in the run-up to the Industrial Revolution. The authors examine Eurasian urbanization patterns as a function of distance to Middle Eastern trade routes before and after 1500 CE – the turning point in European breakthroughs in seafaring, trade and exploration. The results suggest that proximity to historical Muslim trade routes was positively associated with urbanization in 1200 but not in 1800. These findings speak to why Middle Eastern and Central Asian cities – which had long benefited from their central location between Europe and Asia – declined as Europeans found alternative routes to the East and opened trade opportunities in the New World.

An Appraisal of Ibn Khaldun's Defense of Mu'awiya: The Dynamics of Asabiyyah, Mulk and the Counter-Revolution in Al-Muqaddimah

Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan was one of the pivotal and most controversial persons in the history of Muslims. His genius as a ruler has not been disputed, but whether his role and approach were Islamic and consistent with the principles and values of the Qur’an on one hand and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad and the Khulafa al-Rashidoon (the Rightly-Guided Caliphs) on the other have been subject of much controversy. Muslim historiographers had to deal with Mu’awiyah and his role in shaping the legacy of Islam. Ibn Khaldun, a historian from among the muta’akhkhirin (later generations), had also dealt with Mu’awiyah and his legacy. Ibn Khaldun is of particular interest, because as the founder of modern historiography or sociology, he was among the rare few who were not tradition-bound and had a critical bent of mind. Avowedly, he did not accept the treasure of information and scholarship in a blind manner. His unique distinction was of course in pioneering the legacy among Muslims in developing theories to understand and explain the behavior of nations in the framework of group solidarity or group loyalty (asabiyyah) and “royal authority” (mulk). In his trailblazing work, al-Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun attempts to rationalize the role of Mu’awiyah in the conflict between him and Ali and in appointing his son Yazid as his successor. In this paper we document his position based on his own work and evaluate it in terms of consistency of his position with the principles of scholarship and inquiry he himself has laid out in his magnum opus. Examining his application of the concept of “group solidarity” and “royal authority” in the same context of Mu’awiyah, the paper shows how Ibn Khaldun failed to properly assess the nature and impact of the counter-revolution, recognize the lapse of the Muslim societies to develop a proper process for succession and transfer of power, distinguish between power/authority vested in individuals and in institutions, and to identify the importance of checks and balances in the exercise of power and authority.

Transition in Self-Identity: A Sociological Narrative of Tamil Muslims in Malaysia

ABSTRACTThe history of Tamil Muslims is intertwined with the Malay Archipelago since antiquity because of their geographical proximity. A community that has valued its heritage is now forced to reinvigorate itself and bridge through the current socio-economic and political scenario of Malaysia. The subsequent change in self-identity is viewed through the socio-historic approach of Anthony Giddens and the Assimilation Theory of Milton Gordon. The ethnicity with which the Tamil Muslims associate themselves has changed from Tamil to Malay, a shift highlighted among the younger citizens, carving a niche for themselves in society. The importance of a biographical narrative and the reflexivity of a modern society in the conceptualization of self-identity is noted in the case of Tamil Muslims in Malaysia.

African American Muslims: Intersectionality and Cultural Competence

Although African American Muslims constitute 40% of all American‐born Muslims (Pew Research Center, 2011), they are virtually absent from the literature. Increasing the presence of African American Muslims in the literature may improve counselors' cultural competence when working with them. Using intersectional theory, the authors outline the rich history of African American Muslims and highlight ways counselors can improve their cultural and spiritual competence when working with African American Muslims.

Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

Yezidis in ancient India, or Indians in ancient Mesopotamia?: Re-imagining Ancient Yezidi Origins

Members and leaders of the Kurdish speaking Yezidi diaspora in Phoenix, Arizona—and transnationally—are in dialogue with members of the Indian diaspora about their common historical connections. “Are Yezidis from ancient India, or are Indians from ancient Mesopotamia?” Both of these claims and hypotheses situate Yezidis on the outside of a historical Muslim world, and have material effects. They add validity to non-Muslim traditions, by imagining a historical cultural root structure between India and Mesopotamia. They also help both Hindu nationalists and Yezidis to displace historical Muslim culture and dominance to somewhere else while reinforcing tropes of Islam synonymous with the “war on terror.” By de-historicising Islam and its presence in the Middle East and in India, Hindu and Yezidi community leaders co-imagine a pan-polytheism with roots in ancient Persian (Kurdish) Yezidi culture and language. The symbols that can be recognized today that span both traditions— the peacock, the peacock statue (sanjak), and the use of fire in places of worship—give testament to that imagined past. The contradictions of that historical narrative point to the limits of this historical work in the two communities, and find limits in modern identity articulations of Yezidi identity and Hindu identity alike. Material effects of the historical narrative include Indian imagery on the wall of Lalish, online circulating images and articles equating Yezidis to Hindus, and common activism, fundraising, and humanitarianism between Yezidi and Hindu communities in Phoenix, India, and in the Middle East.

Mereformulasikan Area Pendekatan Sistematis dan Bijaksana dalam Pendidikan Islam untuk Anak di Sekolah Awal

The continuous development of problems in the field of education and religion demands the formulation of new paradigms, new theories, and new methods of operationalization that are able to solve new problems that are more complex, on the basis of which it is necessary to update thinking, study and research on Islamic education to reconstruct aspects of theological, philosophical, substantive, methodological, and learning systems in the hope that the implementation of religious education will be effective effectively. This paper is based on the aim of formulating an area of ??systematic and prudent approach in Islamic education for children in early school. From the results of the discussion concluded: 1) According to the Islamic view, education must prioritize faith education. History proves that education will produce education who lack moral character; 2) The historical reconstruction of Islamic philosophy as wisdom certainly indicates a thorough integration of modes of thinking and speaking which is the philosophy of philosophy into larger and speaking mode of thinking which is constitutive of historical Muslim society; 3) the critical area of ??Islamic education for children is the transmission of facts and information about Islam to the personality and character of Kaaffah, the curriculum must be relevant paradigm shift must be effective and relevant to the communities in which they live.

Sharīʿa Scripts: A Historical Anthropology By Brinkley Messick

In this monumental work, Brinkley Messick presents a richly detailed explication of a ground-breaking approach to the study of the textual traditions of shariʿa, combining nuanced ethnography of locally contextualized practices of writing and reading with a sharp critical engagement with the work of philologists and historians of Islamic law and society. The result is a stimulating and insightful opening of new lines of discussion on the engagements of diverse actors with the interpretation and application of the law across a range of distinct yet dynamically inter-related genres of Islamic legal texts. For the empirical matter at the heart of this work, Messick goes back to material collected during his dissertation research fieldwork in Yemen in the 1970s as the focus for a new historical ethnography of the shariʿa as a formation of local texts. The particular site for this exploration is a now gone world of writings: that of the Zaydī Imamate in the early twentieth century, which maintained distinctive dynamics during that period reflective of its remove from broader regional entanglements of Muslim societies with Western imperialism. Messick’s exploration of that particular time and place thus challenges some of the paradigms that have come to define the academic study of Islamic law and society. He does this through a careful consideration of the specific ways in which the Imamate was configured in relation to Zaydī conceptions of Islamic religious authority, and how that epistemological and political framework shaped distinctive processes of the production and reception of Islamic legal texts. From the perspective provided by this unique and under-studied case, Messick’s ethnographic micro-history raises important points for critical reflections on what have come to be some widely-accepted ideas about Islamic law and society—in particular readings informed by what he recognizes as ‘the pattern of rule in most historical Muslim states [that] involved a split between sharīʿa and temporal authorities’ (p. 13).

Re-Examining the Story of Banū Qurayẓah Jews in Medina with a Reference to the Account of Ibn Isḥāq

When the new believers of emerging Islam in 7th century began to establish their foundational worldviews, the Jews and Muslims had a close but tense relationship. This relationship, according to the account of early Muslim historian Ibn Isḥāq, ended with a very violent and severe punishment of the Banū Qurayẓah Jews. The collaboration of Banū Qurayẓah with the enemy during wartime was considered by the Muslims an act of treason and the tribes warriors were punished with a death penalty. Even today, some pronounce this incident in the Arab/Palestine–Israeli conflict. The conflict often comes up in Islamophobic and polemical literature and discourse. The number of fatalities reported in this historical conflict is highly controversial. Some offer an apologetic defence for the incident, while others exaggerate it. This article is to re-examine the conflicts between the Jews and Muslims of Medina in light of historical primary sources and shows that the number of Jews punished in this incident were significantly less than what is reported by Ibn Isḥāq.