Islam For Beginners

Five limes a flay, doss 10 a billion people turn ro The Ka'aba in submission to Allah/God In The HWfiTh century C.E.. (he religion of Islam was revealed to [he Prophet Mohammad Through The Holy Koran. Since than, Islam has spread To every corner of the world from Jerusalem TO Sydney, and iron* Dakar lo London and Detroit, lilam has shown continuity with creative versatility. Tnts book presents the hrsiort: beginnings of Islam, the growth and contribution of its dvlluelion, and the •-. •• of Islam m meeting, the chaitange of tne modern world-

To

the

Reader

+ The meanings of the Holy Koran t h a t will appear in t h e t e x t are taken from t h e t r a n s lations by Ahmad Ali, A r t h u r J . Arberry, A. J . Oawood, and Marmaduke Pickthall. The q u o t a t i o n s from Hadith are taken from a t r a n s l a t i o n of specific selections from Muslim and Bukhari. • Whenever t h e name of the Prophet Mohammad appears, i t shall be followed by I t o represent t h e Arabic word&, "May t h e blessings and peace of God be upon Him" which always come a f t e r t h e Prophet's t name.

•

For facility, all d a t e s in t h i s t e x t will refer t o

t h e Common Era (C.E.). To convert to the Muslim Hijra calendar, see page 2 3 below.

•

islamic t r a d i t i o n condemned

the pictorial

depiction of t h e Prophet > and of t h e family of t h e Prophet I in all a r t i s t i c expressions. I t f u r t h e r discouraged t h e representation of Iivin0 creatures for fear t h a t such represent a t i o n would lead t o pagan or polytheistic worship. A s a result, Muslim artiste

did n o t

i m i t a t e t h e external world, but conveyed

its

inherent meaning through t h e arabesque and geometric

patterns.

Whenever they chose t o

draw living creatures, they produced flat, dimensional

two-

illustrations t h a t were deliberately

unrealistic, with no illusion of depth. • This book uses t h e multiple media of narrative, line drawing, calligraphy, and photograph. In all t h e line drawings, the i l l u s t r a t o r has abided by t h e above criteria of Islamic a r t .

Table of Contents

•

REVELATION

1

Ai- Fatiha, The Opening

2

Arabia and t h e Beginnings of islam

3

The Koran, t h e Holy Text of Islam

14

The Sunna and the Hadith

42

•

65

COMMUNITY

Damascus:

Islamic Worship

70

The Mosque Kufa:

Sects Law and Theological Schools Alchemy

32

Baghdad:

Islamic Science 1:

94

M a t h e m a t i c s and Medicine Cordova:

Islamic Philosophy

104

Isfahan:

Sufism and Music

110

Samarkand:

Islamic Science

116

2:

Astronomy and Geography

Cairo:

The Islamic City

122

Djenne:

Islamic Africa

134

Istanbul:

Islamic Power

13Ö

The Impact on Europe Agra:

Islamic India

146

S o u t h e a s t Asia

152

Central and South America

154

United 5 t a t e s

156

Europe

15S>

Muslim Countries of t h e World

162

•

165

STRAIGHT PATH

Islam in t h e Post-Colonial Phase

167

Four Models In Search of t h e

170

S t r a i g h t Path

Bibliography

191

Acknowledgements and Sources

194

The nameı of God and Mohammad • in Arabic.

To Ibrahim, H a d y a n d Seri.

REVELATION

M-fatiha (The

Opening)

In the name ofQod, the Merciful, the Compassionate. (Praise Belongs to Qod, the Lord of all 'Being, the Ad-merciful, the Ail-compassionate, the Master of the (Day of (Doom. Ihee only toe serve; to Thee alone ive pray for succor. Quide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Ihou hast Blessed, not of those against -whom Ihou art xvrathful, nor of those toho are astray.' HQran

1:1-7

The above verses constitute the first chapter of the Koran and are the most widely Invoked words in the world of Islam.

•

THE ROOTS OF ISLAM LAY IN

THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. TO THE WESTERN SIPE OF THE PENINSULA STOOP THE HOLY CITY OF MECCA, PROMINENT ANP FLOURISHING IN THE 6TH CENTURY C.E.

Mecca

O n c e a year, n o m a d poets g a t h e r e d in t h e market t o w n of 'Ukaz, east of t h e city, t o recite their verse.

M o s t importantly, i t was a religious center.

The Ka'aba w a s a house of (Sods.

Once a year, A r a b t r i b e s went t h e r e on pilgrimage.

N O ROOF

WOODEN STRUCTURE

CONTAINER FOR G I F T S TO G O D S INSIDE

BLACK. S T O

In M e c c a s t o o d t h e K a ' a b a a w o o d e n structure encasing a circular b l a c k stone. Inside a n d a r o u n d It were 360 deities b r o u g h t b y pilgrims from across t h e peninsula.

• 6

Those deities originated in Graeco-Roman

mytho-

logy and m o s t of them tvere female. Manat was one of t h e oldest goddesses and was believed t o control Al-Lat

human fortune.

was t h e sun deity and was widely popular,

Her name meant "The Goddess".

The Goddess Al-Lat

The Lion of Al-Lat

Al-Uzza, t h e "Mighty One", was favored by the Meocans, along with t h e Goddess Hubal, t h e t u t e l a r y goddess

of the Ka'aba.

t h e s e deities involved animal

The worship of

sacrifice.

7*

There were, however, followers of monotheism in Mecca, as In t h e r e s t of Arabia. • There were Jews who were well-established in Yathrib, a rival city t o Mecca. Their chief tribes lived both within t h e city and in Khaybar, north of it. The Jews were p a r t of t h e c u s t o m , language and nomenclature of Arabia. •

So were t h e Christians

who Inhabited

Damascus

and Hira in t h e north of the peninsula, Najran in t h e south and t o a lesser extent, the Hijaz area. Christians were either Monophysites (Christ has one divine nature) or Nestorians (Christ is man born God). EJoth groups were persecuted by t h e Byzantine church and in t h e next century supported Islam because i t offered them toleration. • There were also ai-Hanafiyyeen, monotheism of t h e patriarch

followers of t h e Abraham (Ibrahim).

Ibrahim al-l\halee!, "the friend of God",

professed

f a i t h in one universal God and In celebration, with his son Ismail, t h e Ka'aba, the Holy ary. But after his death, into a place of idols.

• a

p o i y t h e i s t s turned

built, Sanctuit

Kuralsh was o n e of t h e M e c c a n tribes profiting from t h e pilgrims t o t h e K a ' a b a . The Kuralshltes were d o m i n a n t In M e c c a ' s p l u t o c r a c y a n d were unrivalled merchants in Western A r a b i a .

94

:

v

i

In 5 7 0 C.E., Ai;r/i!r i al-Aohi ,im, the; Kin,i of <-: :irr. i i t t - " " ^ ' ^ ,Miv:c\-3 b-'^-^lLJr^i"- th<: City

Wi\<:- rr\v\

>r,r.in.') !', ;i

t r i ^ r with ^io uJpit^l SiJN:i'^. We uftfV ;in rir;pii .m ttranoportfi.1 from Abys&inia which fn£>htrrvy; Lhr ;

who

•

10

II;-JH

nwe:r Gf-iii ouch ;-m inirn,'ii in w.-n f. t

11•--

B u t God struck t h e invaders with "floe'is of birds and destroyed them. That year was named by the Meccans "YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT".

In August of t h a t year, a b o y w a s born in M e c c a a n d given t h e n a m e M o h a m m a d I (praiser), a n u n c o m m o n n a m e a t t h e time. His father, A b d a l l a h , a Kuralshite of t h e c l a n of Hashem, h a d recently d i e d . The child's mother was c a l l e d A m l n a a n d she t o o d i e d a f e w years later. ,

•

12

Little is known a b o u t M o h a m m a d » in his early m a n h o o d except that he participated in M e c c a n politics a n d helped in the rebuilding of t h e K a ' a b a after it was destroyed by a flood. At the a g e of 25, he married Khadija, a rich Kuraishite widow, a n d prospered as a trader b e t w e e n Damascus, Busra, M e c c a a n d Yemen,

Throughout his life, Mohammad • had t h e t i t l e of Abul Qassim,

Before his f o r t i e t h year, Mohammad > had often seclude himself in meditation, In Ramadan (July) 610 C,E., as he sa in a cave in M o u n t Hira ' , two miles n o r t h of Mecca, Allah (th name of God in Arabic) revealed His words to Mohammad through t h e Angel Gabriel. That night of revelation is known as "the Night of Glory". •

14

These are the first words t h a t were revealed to him. M o h a m m a d was a n unlettered Prophet*, a n d w h a t he recited were the wondrous verses of G o d (ayat ulLah), not m a n - m a d e words.

I

f

*

V 0^>

torn r

*

r£>

>.—•

7 b tie name o/

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tm

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w *

<MQ<M<s^

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tie Compassionate, the Merciful,

(Rgcite in the name of your Lord who created Created man from clots of Blood. Incite! Jour Cordis the Most "BountifulOne, Who By the pen taught man what he did not k&ozo.' •Kpran 96:1-5

15

•

The revelation of t h e Koran (recited text) h a d b e g u n , a n d w o u l d continue until t h e d e a t h of t h e Prophet». ISLAM (submission t o G o d ) , t h e last revelation in monotheism, was born.

H o w d o I become a M u s l i m ?

! !

You should witness t o t h e following: "There is no d e i t y b u t God, and Mohammad ) is H i s P r o p h e t . "

•16

The Koran has o n e overpowering t h e m e :

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD.

GOO has no associate,

no rival, no like. In

HIM Is the beginning of t h e creation,

and Its

end; to HIM t h e human soul should t u r n ; by HIM t h e universe continues until t h e " L a s t Scream" of Judgement Day. GOD is above human reasoning and imagination, whatever mankind thinks about HIM, HE is ALLAH-U AKBAR

beyond and greater, transcendent y e t imminent, infinite y e t as close t o man a s his 'Jugular vein".

In t h e Koran, God speaks

in HIS own voice and

words to humanity: HE reminds and guides and corrects,

threatens,

forgives and punishes. M o s t

emphatically, HE is the compassionate, the merciful' (Rahman) (Raheem)

Every Surah (chapter) in t h e Koran opens

with

t h e s e words: "In t h e Name of God t h e Compassionate,

the

Merciful" These words, known a s t h e Bismillah, remind mankind t h a t

This message of islam was a c c e p t e d a t first by only a handful of M e c c a n s : • t h e Prophet's) wife, • t h e Prophet's I friend A b u Bakr known as The Believer, • a n d t h e Prophet's I cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib But within a f e w years, t h e faithful b e c a m e n o t i c e a b l e by their prayers a n d rejection of idols. The Kuraishites f e a r e d that the monotheistic revelation w o u l d undermine the lucrative pilgrima g e t r a d e , a n d they b e g a n a w a v e of persecution. As a result, some of t h e Muslims fled t o Ethiopia where they m e t t h e Christian Negus (ruler),

" » w » » » » WHAT İS I5LAM ?

MMSM ~ NEGUS~

BELIEF IN GOV, IN J U D G E M E N T DAY, IN A UNIVER5AL M E S S A G E REVEALED TO PROPHETS FROM A D A M , ABRAHAM AND JESU5 TO M O H A M M A D », WHO IS THE LAST MESSENGER AND 'SEAL OF THE PROPHETS" (KORAN 3 3 : 4 0 )

•

22

These are t h e words w h i c h h a d b e e n revealed t o t h e Prophet M o h a m m a d » a b o u t Jesus a n d w h i c h t h e emigrants r e p e a t e d :

"'Whereupon he (Jesus) spotig and said: 'I am the servant of Qod. He has given me the 'Book, and ordained me a prophet. His blessing is upon me wherever I go, and He has commanded me to Be steadfastinprayerandtogivealmstothepooraslong as I shall live. He has e^ortedtne to honor my mother and has purged me of vanity and wickedness. I was Blessed on the day 1 was Born, and Blessed I shall Be on the day of my death; andmay peace Be upon me on the day when I shall Be raised to life.' Such was Jesus, the son of Mary.' %pran 19:30-34

•

• •

The Koran views Jesus as a Prophet born of G o d ' s Spirit but without a n y divine characteristics. Thus he was not crucified, but only a p p e a r e d t o have b e e n . (Koran 4:155-169) The Koran honors t h e Virgin Mary as a m o d e l of chastity. There is a c h a p t e r In t h e Koran n a m e d after her (Surah 19), a n d m a n y verses praise t h e purity a n d d e v o t i o n of her life. "And of Mary, daughter oflmran who guarded her chastity, so that We Breathed into her a life from Us, andshe Believed the words of her Lord and His 'Boo^s, and was among the obedient." Koran 66:12

1

IN 6 2 C.E., THE PROPHET ft UNDERWENT THE NIGHT JOURNEY, AL 15RA', FROM MECCA TO THE RUINS OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, THERE, HE PRAYED AT THE ''FARTHEST MOSQUE" (KORAN 17:1), SO-NAMED BECAUSE IT WAS THE PLACE OF WORSHIP FARTHEST WEST KNOWN TO THE A P A S S .

In Jerusalem, a n d o n a rock n o w inside al-Haram a-Shareef (Dome of the Rock), M o h a m m a d I p r a y e d a n d w a s lifted t o t h e s e v e n h e a v e n s w h e r e h e r e c e i v e d a vision of t h e Prophets o f monotheism: A d a m , Jesus (Isa) a n d J o h n t h e Baptist (Yahya), Joseph (Yusuf). Enoch (Idris), Aaron (Haroon), Moses (Moosa) a n d A b r a h a m .

F l a n of t h e D o m e o f t h e Rock, J e r u s a l e m .

Whether mystical or physical (on t h e horse "Boraq", as t h e Prophet himself r e c o u n t e d ) , t h e experience of al-Mi'raj remains a mystery of G o d . Because of It, Jerusalem is the third holiest city in Islam.

25

•

A s Meccan h o s t i l i t y c o n t i n u e d , t h e P r o p h e t ft decide leave his b i r t h place f o r Y a t h r i b where t h e Koranic t e , ings h a d been well received. On t h e n i g h t o f his flight l e a r n t o f a plot by t h e M e c c a n s t o kill h i m : he aekec c o u s i n Ali t o sleep in his bed s o he could slip away cooperated and v A V ^ Prophet I with Abu E3akr X^^rf ^ guide t h e 275-mile jour^ weetwarc (

n e

a

n

a

n e

Y a t h r i b . When t h e up

with

the

' ^ g *

Meccano

cat

Prophet

I,

W

l

t

sought shelter ^ E inside a cave. T Suddenly, i b r o u g h t f o r t h a miracle: a cobweb, t h i c k t r e e bran< a n d n e s t i n g d o v e s c o v e r e d t h e m o u t h o f t h e cave. Sfi how u n d i s t u r b e d t h e c a v e w a s , t h e p u r s u e r s t h o i it was empty. Inside, Abu Bakr had feared, but P r o p h e t ft assured him o f G o d ' s help.

In the cave fie said to his companion: ' 'Do not despair, Qodis -with us.' Qod caused'J(istranquillity to descend upon him and sent to bis aid invisible warriors, so that he routed the unbelievers and exalted the Word of Qod. Qod is mighty and wise.' •Koran 9:40

•

26

27

This emigration/flight took p l a c e In t h e summer of 622 C.E. It is t h e HIJRA w h e n c e t h e Muslim c a l e n d a r begins.

These are t h e months of t h e Muslim year: Muharram, Safar, Rabee' Awal, Rabee' Thani, Jamadi Awal, Jamadi

Thani, Rajab, Sha'aban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhui

Qi'da and Phul Hijra. Because t h e year was measured by t h e lunar cycle, t h e crescent became t h e symbol of Islam. The lunar year is shorter than i t s solar c o u n t e r p a r t by about 11 days.

I

• 26

To convert from C o m m o n Era t o Hljra, I (C.E. - 622) x 33/32 = H

In Yathrib, the Prophet ft was welcomed by t w o groups of believers: t h e earlier emigrants Mecca and the local

from

supporters.

Henceforth, Yathrlb became known as medlnat

a\-

Nabiyy, "City of t h e Prophet", MEDINA. It is t h e second

holiest city for Muslims a f t e r

Mecca.

• In Medina, the Koran revealed

the

SHARIA

t h e Holy Law of t h e Islamic Theocracy.

The religious, social and legal teachings

of Shari'a,

in t h e i r essentials, have guided Muslims into present

times.

29«

firm w »

m

The Arabs were a tribal p e o p l e whose group b o n d was kinship. After t h e believers were separ a t e d f r o m their relatives in M e c c a , a n e w p r i n c i p l e of cohesion was n e e d e d , God revealed t h e principle of Umma w h e r e t h e g r o u p b o n d does not d e p e n d o n b l o o d b u t o n faith in Him.

Such a b o n d was evident around t h e Prophet > himself: there was the M e c c a n a n d the Yathriblte, t h e Persian a n d the African, t h e c o n v e r t e d Christian a n d t h e c o n v e r t e d Jew, t h e freed slave a n d the noble clan leader. AH c o n s t i t u t e d t h e u m m a because they worshipped Allah.

^

• 30

a

^ J L a d B H

Before Islam, t h e b l o o d - f e u d prevailed: w h e n a m e m b e r of a g r o u p was Injured or killed by a person from another g r o u p , t h e first g r o u p h a d t h e right of vengeance, atoothfora tooth, a life for a life. The Koran praised t h e Muslim who a c c e p t e d a penalty on t h e criminal w h i c h was less t h a n t h e a c t penalized, or w h o forg a v e altogether (Koran 5:45, 16:126-127). Futhermore, t h e Koran distinguished in a novel w a y b e t w e e n deliberate a n d Involuntary killing: If a believer deliberately killed another, he w o u l d b e punished in hell: if accidentally, he would pay blood money,

Justice was p a r a m o u n t , not v e n g e a n c e .

31 •

The Koranic principle of t h e b r o t h e r h o o d of believers w a s instrumental in extending compassion t o all w e a k a n d d e p e n d e n t persons, particularly t o t h e slaves. The Koran m i t i g a t e d slavery by urging the Muslims t o free t h e slave o n c e t h e latter a c c e p t e d Islam: 'Serve Qodandassociate none withHim. Show kindness to parents and kindred, to orphans and to the destitute, to near and distant neighbours, to those that keep company with you, to the traveller in need, and to the staves you own.

Qod does not love arrogant and

boastful men, who are themselves niggardly and enjoin others to be niggardly; who conceal the riches which Qod of His bounty has bestowed upon them." Koran 4:36

•

32

33

•

Not only in A r a b i a , but in m a n y neighboring civilizations, infanticide was c o m m o n l y p r a c t i c e d , P a g a n Arabs killed their u n w a n t e d daughters by burying t h e m alive after birth. The Koran prohibited this murder: "you shall not kill your children for fear of want.

We wilt provide for

them and for you. To kill them is a great sin.' %pran 17:31

•

34

In order t o regulate family life, the Koran instituted marriage as a legal a g r e e m e n t , not a sacrament. The Koran g r a n t e d t h e w o m a n rights t h a t h a d previously b e e n d e n i e d her. In marriage, t h e w o m a n w a s t o receive t h e d o w r y herself, t o inherit her h u s b a n d , t o o w n property, a n d t o e n g a g e In financial affairs. The Koran prohibited Muslim w o m e n from marrying outside Islam, but it a l l o w e d Muslim men t o marry Jewish a n d Christian w o m e n . Those wives c o u l d retain a n d p r a c t i c e their faith, b u t their children were to b e raised Muslim. In order t o protect o r p h a n e d girls a n d widows, t h e Koran p e r m i t t e d polygyny (Koran 4:3), but this was a n o p t i o n , not a n injunction, a n d was strictly p r e d i c a t e d o n t h e individual's ability to b e just,

1

---

ill

-.-„

1J i n

ii

A Turkoman "asmalyk' used to decorate the bride's camel.

55 •

Call to Prayer The Muslims used t o assemble a r o u n d t h e Prophet I for prayer, As their numbers grew, there was n e e d to call t h e m together, a n d the Prophet • chose as t h e first muezzin (caller t o prayer) a slave from Africa, Bilal, w h o h a d b e e n freed after a c c e p t i n g Islam, c l i m b e d t h e roof of a house near t h e mosque w h i c h t h e Prophet > h a d h e l p e d build, a n d recited t h e Adhan. To t h e present d a y , t h e muezzin uses these words in his c a l l t o prayer:

Rttah u Aftfar. Qod is greater. Qodis greater. I witness that there is nogi But Qod. I witness that Mohammad the prophet of Qod. %ise to prayer. O^ise to felicity. Qod is greater. Qod is greater. There is no god But Qod.

•

36

P f f l 1«

<1 Direction of Prayer At the beginning of t h e revelation, Muslims were Invoked t o turn in t h e direction of Jerusalem d u r i n g prayer. But In M e d i n a , t h e Koran turned t h e believers towards t h e K a ' a b a in M e c c a (Koran 2:144). The reason for this c h a n g e in Qibla w a s t h e opposition of t h e Jews t o t h e Prophet I a n d t o t h e K o r a n l c m e s s a g e . Hereafter, Islamic d e v o t i o n w o u l d focus on t h e "Sacred Mosque" wherein the Ka'aba is l o c a t e d .

3 A prayer rug.

37 •

Still t h e Koran prescribed toleration t o the People of the Book- t h e Jews a n d t h e Christians. The Koran sanctified God's p r o p h e t i c revelation t o these t w o communities In t h e Torah a n d the New Testament, but a c c u s e d Jews a n d Christians of straying from the Straight Path. The People of the Bookwere part of t h e U m m a a n d were t o b e p r o t e c t e d in their religious f r e e d o m , rights a n d properties. Because they w e r e not a l l o w e d to particip a t e In t h e military, they were t o p a y a n extra tax, "There shaft Be no compulsion in religion.' Koran 2:256 In 635 C.E,, t h e Caliph O m a r d e c l i n e d a n offer by t h e Bishop of Jerusalem t o pray inside t h e Church of t h e Holy Sepulchre lest Muslims build a mosque o n that site. He p r a y e d outside where t h e Mosque of O m a r n o w stands.

•

3a

The Koran prohibited Muslims from g a m b l i n g , drinking alcoholic beverages a n d eating pork.

ft

As these a n d other laws were b e i n g r e v e a l e d In M e d i n a , t h e eyes of t h e Muslims w e r e set o n M e c c a , mother of t h e cities Cum al-qura, Koran 6:93). Battles broke o u t b e t w e e n the Muslims a n d t h e polytheists of M e c c a . In 630 C,E., t h e city finally surrendered a n d the Prophet I triumphantly returned t o his birthplace, showing clemency t o his former enemies, all of w h o m now submitted t o G o d ,

The Prophet • t h e n p r o c e e d e d t o t h e K a ' a b a a n d destroyed t h e idols while reciting t h e Koranic verse: "Say: Truth has come and falsehood has Seen overthrown,

falsehood was bound to Be discomfited." Xpran 17:81

39*

Two years later, t h e Prophet I went t o Mecca with over 10,000

followers.

This was his l a s t pilgrimage and from M o u n t A r a f a t , he gave his farewell a d d r e s s t o t h e Muslims, ending i t with t h e s e words: / am leaving you with the 3ook of God ar\d the Sunnah of hie Prophet. 0 men, harken well to my words, learn one

that

the Muslims

constitute

brotherhood.

• The Prophet

returned

to Medina, but

in June of t h a t year, 6 3 2 C.E., he fell ill, and in t h e a r m s of his wife Aisha, daughter of his best friend Abu Bakr, t h e l a s t of t h e Prophets of God died. He was 6 3 y e a r s old.

was buried under t h e floor of Aisha's room in Medina. A mosque now s t a n d s above t h a t spot. Because his life was steeped in t h e history of Arabia, Mohammad I has t h e m o s t accurately documented biography among all t h e Prophets of monotheism. Indeed, t h e historical context of his life underscores

the revelation of t h e HOLY KORAN. 43

•

UtlimarTs Mushflf (another name for the Koran) is t h e taxi; still uefld today. It r,one l & t ^ 6 f 1 l 4 surahs

ranged

in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h

the

PVophet'e & guidance: t h e longer are a t t h e beginning and

then

MeccaN

the f nd

shorter. MK^Jina n

revelations are sometime* intermingled, although the forms? Bmphastes tUo theo¬ logical t h e m e * while t h e l a t t e r focus on legislation.

T I T : P nljn •

Lav c - 1

T

Ti

The titles of t h e surahs derive from domino nf i m a g es or motifs, a nd a few c ha piers o p e n w i t h a l p h a b e t i c a l letters t h a t remain a divine mystery.

43

•

The Koran is a n e x a c t c o p y of t h e words of G o d which are inscribed in the Celestial Plate. It is thus Inerrant.

Although the Koran is in t h e tradition of other divinely rev e a l e d books (Torah, Psalms, Gospels), it supersedes t h e m b e c a u s e It w a s not c o r r u p t e d b y m a n : i n d e e d , only the Koran was c o l l e c t e d so promptly a n d m e t i c u lously after its p r o p h e t i c c o m p l e t i o n .

The

Koran is t h e miracle of Islam. imitated.

It c a n n o t b e

The Koran is a revelation in Arabic, but its message is universal.

The Koran provides Muslims a t all times a n d in alt p l a c e s w i t h d i r e c t i o n in religious a n d civil duties. It guides t h e m t o t h e

STRAIGHT PATH. (Koran 1:5)

"He has revealed to you the (Boof^with the Truth, confirming the scriptures which preceded it; for He has already revealed the Torah and the Çospetfor the guidance of men, and the distinction Between right and wrong.' Koran 3:3

"Say: 'The Holy Spirit brough tit('Koran) down from yourLordin

truth to reassure the faithful,

andtogive

guidance and good news to those that surrender themselves.'" Koran 16:102

'Say: "if men and jinn combined to write the like of this Kpran, they would surely fail to compose the tike, though they helped one another as best they could. " Koran 17:88

"We have revealed the Koran in the Arabic tongue that you may understand its meaning. It is a transcript of the eternal Bookjn Our keeping, suBlime and full of wisdom.' Koran 43:2-4

•

50

ISLAM RESTS O N FIVE PRECEPTS: • • • • •

WITNESS: "SHAHADAH" The essence of Islam is submission t o God and

admission t h a t Mohammad I is His

messenger.

The Shohadah in geometric Kufic calligraphy (see page 82 below).

PRAYER: SALAT"

The Muslim prays five times a day a t sunrise, midday, afternoon, sunset and evening. Before prayer, the Muslim prepares

by t h e washing of

t h e head, hands and feet. Prayer is adoration

and gratitude

to God. I t is

for all men and women and can be performed in any unpolluted place facing Mecca. can pray alone or with others,

although t h e

Friday midday prayer is better Prayer involves prostration touches t h e ground. acknowledgement

52

The Muslim

in community.

where t h e forehead

Prostration

is in

of t h e majesty of God.

ALMS: "ZAKAT" Zakat is prescribed alms. In t h e K.oran, i t is always associated

with the observation

of worship since

f a i t h in God is expressed through good deeds. Once a year, the Muslim pays 21/2% of his or her capital as alms to t h e needy.

i «^Ur 4*4 U l j l A i (•bill 4fi|»

j

'..^lUjiy^o^!

i f j - y "'J*—* i - ^ f » j t f

4 Jtfjtfcll

i

. '41AI

An advertisement In a Saudi newspaper asking for donations to help Muslim refugees and emigrants In Somalia, Afghanistan and Turkey. Islam (submission) to God enjoined social responsibllty to mankind.

53

•

FASTING: "SAWM The Muslim f a s t s for the whole of the month of Ramadan. The f a s t begins a t sunrise ("when a

white thread is

barely distinguished from a black £ £ » thread") and ends a t sunset. Throughout, t h e f a s t e r neither eats, drinks, smokes, nor indulges

in

peopleareexling,

along

sexual activity. Children and old cused, while t h e sick and the travelmum with pregnant women, can

postpone

t h e i r f a s t until they are f i t . The f a s t teaches discipline t o the soul and recalls for the believer t h e month in which t h e f i r s t verses of the Koran were revealed. The f a s t ends on t h e f i r s t •

day of

Shawwal when Muslims celebrate Bid

M

1

al-Fitr.

In many parts of the Middle East, ai-musahharati roams the streets an houi before the dawn fast begins. By beating on a small drum he awakens people to have their last meal before the fast. The daily fast ends o n c e the muezzin calls for evening prayer.

PILGRIMAGE: "HAJJ" Once in a lifetime a t least, t h e Muslim should go on pilgrimage t o t h e Ka'aba In Mecca.

In t h a t

pilgrimage, which is Abrahamic in origin and which s t r e t c h e s between t h e 7 t h and t h e 10th of t h e month of Phul Hijja, t h e l a s t in t h e Muslim calendar, the believer focuses on t h e one point in space and time wherein t h e whole Islamic world acknowledges t h e might and oneness of God.

The black stone of the Ka'aba, now encased in silver, has no special properties whatsoever. Muslims salute it only because the Prophet I himself had done so on his final pilgrimage.

55 •

During t h e Hajj, pilgrims wear a seamless to emphasize

human equality before God.

The Hajj involves the following •

steps-.

The tawaf. seven counterclockwise circuits around the

•

drape

Ka'aba.

The pilgrim then offers

two prostrations

at

the Site of Abraham and goes to the Weil of Zamzam (which God had shown t o Hajar and her son Ishmael in t h e d e s e r t ) . •

Afterwards, in recollection of Hajar's and perseverance,

patience

the pilgrim crosses between

t h e two mountains of Safa and Marwa.

"Lubaika, Ailahuma, lubaika", words which the pilgrim repeats: "I obey you Lord, I obey".

•

He/She then joins t h e multitude towards t h e Plain of A r a f a t and r e s t s there before continuing t o Mina t o c a s t stones a t three pillars symbolizing the devil.

•

Finally, an animal (sheep or camel) is sacrificed and t h e pilgrim returns t o perform t h e farewell tawaf of t h e Ka'aba. The meat of t h e sacrifices Is distributed

to the

poor of t h e umma.

MINA

PLAIN OF ARAFAT

The pilgrimage ends with the Feast of Bid al-Adha. Prophet's

Sacrifice,

The pilgrim then visits the

I t o m b in Medina.

57

•

The Muslim pilgrimage is t h e largest annual assembly of people on e a r t h . In 1991, nearly t w o million men and women fulfilled t h e pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Koran provides a complete vision of God and of human life. During the Prophet's

ft

life and after, however, t h e Muslims turned t o t h e words, deeds and assents

of the

P r o p h e t * himself for f u r t h e r guidance on matters

alluded to In the

Koran.

All t h a t t h e Prophet I said, did or consented t o c o n s t i t u t e s t h e SUNNA (the Right Way).

km

The Sunna is essential Muslim life: •

60

for the fulfillment of

for instance, the Koran s t i p u l a t e s ablution and prayer, but i t does not describe how t h e a c t of ablution is t o be conducted.

Having

observed t h e Prophet ft ablute and then prostrate

himself in prayer, the earlytvlus-

lims imitated

him in his SUNNA.

61 •

GOD • KORAN • S U PROPHET • • N • UMMA N A

The SUNNA remains a

•

The S U N N A

provides

source of instruction t o

Muslims

with

thi

Muslims today.

All the

Prophet's

I immutabli

SUNNA. is recorded in t h e

guidance.

B u t i t is cate-

Books of HADITH (Tradi-

gorically d i s t i n c t frorr

t i o n s of t h e Prophet I).

t h e KORAN which is t h i WORD OF GOO.

The KORAN and t h e

•

SUNNA c o n s t i t u t e al-ASL, t h e foundation of I5LAM.

62

All who believe in ONE UNIVERSAL GOV revealed in t h e KORAN

!i

and follow t h e SÜNNA of THE PROPHET

•

MOHAMMAD I

will be rewarded at the day of judgement

with

PARADISE. All who disobey will be punished in HELL.

65

•

0

mankind! We created youfrom a single

souC, mate and female, and made you into nations and triées, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored ofyou in Çod's sight is the greatest of you in piety.

Çod is JZlt-OQiozLfing, Mt-Mtvare." %pran 49:13

• The spread of Islam was so

rapid

that

within a

century after the death of the Prophet ft ( 6 3 2 ) , t h e Muslim-faith extended from Spain t o China. Islam was

a

universal

religion t h a t wasexpressed in Arabic, t h e

language

chosen

by God for

the

Koran.

As a result, t h e

Muslim relied on Arabic for reciting

prayers,

naming

children, decorating a vase, i l l u m i n a t i n g a book, or embellishing a dagger-hilt.

The confession of faith in the shape of a boat. ARABIC HEADS FROM RIGHT

IO

LEFT.

Knowledge of Arabic is indispensable t o Muslim theologians.

• 60

of Islam The Byzantine, Persian, Berber/African, Turkish, and Indian civilizations.

• S A M A R K A N D

•MÉOA

SOUtHBBST, ASt*.

69

•

(Damascus The blossoming of Islamic civilization occurred in • DAMASCUS probably t h e oldest

"JV^ f

continuously-inhabited

city in t h e world. The city was the capital of t h e Umayyad Dynasty between 661-749. Today, Damascus

is t h e capital

of Syria.

"Damascus is a city intersected by streams and begirt with trees... Nowhere else will be seen such magnificent hot baths, nor such beautiful fountains, nor people more worthy of consideration." The 10th-century traveller Al-Maqdisi.

•

70

m

i s s

u

A damascene wooden jewelry box inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Khalid i b n al-Walid,the m o s t capable military s t r a t e g i s t in early Islamic history, entered Damascus in 6 3 5 , a f t e r the capitulation of t h e city.

• The inhabitants of Damascus t h e Muslim conquerors; them against

did n o t r e s i s t

rather, they

supported

t h e Byzantine rulers, indeed, t h e

Bishop of t h e c i t y regularly brought food t o Khalid, t h e "5word of Allah." The l a t t e r responded with a benevolent t r e a t y :

In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate. This is what Khalid would grant the inhabitants of Damascus when he enters it He shall grant them security for their lives, properties and churches. Their city wall shall not be demolished, neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their homes. So long as they pay poll-tax, nothing but good shall befall them. Trans. Philip Hitti.

Islam was putting t o practice the toleration coexistence

which t h e Koran preached:

">lttrf if the if incline to peace, incline you too to it, and trust in tjod. Lot 'Jte is the'Jiearer,the %nower.' •Koran S:hl

•

and

As Damascus ruled the Muslim world, Islamic culture moved closer to t h e Heilenized Mediterranean and away from the desert.

n Damascus,

t h e Islamic i n s t i t u t i o n

gave rise t o the

FIRST

COIN

STRUCK

IN

FIRST R E G U L A R ARMY IN

ISLAM

ISLAM

FIRST MOSQUE OUTSIDE THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

73

•

•

The courtyard

of t h e Prophet's I house in

Medina served as the f i r s t mosque, the concept

of which developed over the years

include additional

features.

to

These can be

found in t h e UmayyadMosque in Damascus,

a

fine example of the C O M M U N I T Y MOSQUE • With t h e spread of Islam, mosques adapted to indigenous traditional architecture, resulting in a variety of styles. Whether Arabic or Iranian, Turkish, Indian or African, a Muslim House of Worship will always share the principles of t h e Umayyad Mosque.

The Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, built 706-715. In Islam, the building of a mosque is an act of great merit. The Prophet > said in the Hadith: "Whoever builds a mosque, desiring thereby God's pleasure, God builds for him the like of it in paradise."

74

The mosque is designed to create a space of serenity, rather than exaltation.

MECCA

Plan of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.

Islam discouraged

the portrayal of human

and animal forms for fear of Idolatry. Muslims turned their artistic towards

the abstract,

besques

imagination

decorating

mosques with geometrical

The

patterns,

their ara-

and the calligraphy (beautiful

handwriting) of Koranic

verses. 75

•

During prayer, worshippers form long rows facing t h e Qibla wall. The • MIHRAB • refuge

a niche within t h a t wall, emphasizes t h e direction

of Mecca.

although a central

The mihrab,

feature

in t h e

mosque, is n o t sacred; i t is t h e d i r e c t i o n i t expresses which is sacred.

There is no processionalworship in I s l a m .

The

rectangular

shape

of t h e Prayer Hall fulfills t h e

worshippers' need t o pray as close t o the Qibla wall (hence, Mecca) as possible. Neither are there any priests in Islam: holiness resides solely in God and t h e Koran, and not in any special individual or class of persons.

Even the Prophet I is viewed as j u s t a

simple human being, with no supernatural qualities [Koran 3:144-145).

• 76

To t h e right of t h e mihrab s t a n d s the • MINBAR • pulpit which c o n s i s t s of narrow s t e p s enclosed by hand-rails and leading t o a platform often covered bya canopy. I t is from t h i s minbarthat the Friday noon sermon is delivered, Friday being Islam's holy day (Koran 6 2 : 9 ) .

When t h e Imam (leader

of

prayer) to preach,

the

stands

he never occupies t h e t o p step of t h e

minbar. That is always left empty in recognition of t h e Prophet's ft pre-eminence.

Because there is no separation

between secular

religious life in Islam, t h e sermon addresses political, international and doctrinal

and social,

matters.

77 +

A fundamental

feature

of the moec\ue Is the

-COURTYARDwhlch precedes the prayer hall and accommodates the overflow of worshippers. The removal of shoes Is required prior to entering the mosque precinct; the worshipper then performs the ablution ritual at the fountain generally located in the courtyard. Devotional and ordinary activities yard of t h e mosque.

meet In the

There the community can pray,

while s t u d e n t s can learn, travellers chants

can negotiate

can rest,

mer-

and the weary can find peace In God.

I n the larger m o s q u e s , the c o u r t y a r d m a y be s u r r o u n d e d by a n arcade, riwaq in A r a b i c . T h i s w o r d literally m e a n s " c o m p o s u r e " for c o n t e m p l a t i o n a n d learning. The > — r h y t h m i c arcades h e l p {/ V ! bring the scale of the l a r g e U \ * J J p r a y e r h a l l s d o w n to a h u - ^ ' man level. In the shade of the riwaq, m a n y a teacher i n I s l a m h a s taught the p r i n c i p l e s of faith, for the mosque is a place of w o r s h i p , of sanctuary a n d of s t u d y . s

• 70

court-

The • MINARET • allows t h e muezzin t o call t h e believers t o prayer. In small communities, he c h a n t s t h e words himself; in large cities, loudspeakers are used and t h e call is synchronized among all t h e mosques. In nearly all Islamic countries, t h e call t o prayer is in Arabic.

The structure

of t h e

often reveals the

minaret

geographic

location of t h e mosque:

the

minaret is square in Spain and North Africa, round with a conical cap In Turkey, composite in Egypt, and octagonal

sometimes

and capped with a

dome in India.

1

When t h e muezzin recites t h e Koran, he follows established melodic cadences

known as

• TATWEED » Tajweed or chanting Into the affective

Wings Gods

revelation

experience of t h e believer.

The Koran is t o be felt as well as

yd zakanyyo

lam

nai^al

hu' 'mna nubaisuuka

iahu miin)

qjbiiu

bi gulamim

understood.

smuhu

yahyd

siimiyyd

S a y x M u b a r a m a d Rjf'at, Q u i

19/1

Say-x M u f a i m m a d S i d d i q a l M i o i a w i , Qui

1/7,

1/1

Two different recitations of Koranic verses by contemporary sheikhs in Egypt.

The Koran is chanted at funerals, on feast days and at the call to prayer. reciters

Most

know all the Koran by heart ( 6 , 2 3 6

verses) and some are so famous t h a t recordings of their interpretations worldwide.

are sold

• WOMEN • t h e spiritual equals of men (K.oran4:1),also worship a t t h e

mosque.

Decency, however, dic-

T h e Prophet I i n v o k e d men to be gentle to their spouses: "The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he ivho is best in manner ami kindest to his wife."

t a t e s a private q u a r t e r for t h e m , and when such

Women

a q u a r t e r is not found,

were always active in

women pray in rows be-

communal and military

hind men. A t t h e mosque,

affairs.

a s well a s

Prophet's I wife Aisha

spaces,

in

public

women cover

In 6 5 6 ,

took p a r t in t h e

the Battle

t h e i r heads and arms.

of the Camel (so named

The facial veil found in

because the b a t t l e cen-

some Muslim countries

tered around the

is not a Koranic injunc-

she rode).

t i o n , but a local c u s t o m .

later

camel

Aisha was

buried

in

the

Umayyad mosque. Women

• One of the ihidiths of the Prophet I stated:

were also intellectually active:

Aisha was well-

versed in Arabic poetry "Do not prohibit the handmaids of God from attending the mosques of God."

and genealogy. A f t e r t h e death of t h e Prophet I , she became an a u t h o r i t y on t h e Sunna, so much so, t h a t over 200

au-

thentic

are

ascribed

Hadiths to her.

•

uta Calligraphy and theological

studies in Islam

focus on t h e Koran. The f i r s t calligraphic

style (XufiJ and

t h e foundations of legal studies were begun in • KUFA a city in Iraq.

"If you seek elegance, go to Kufa." The 10th-century writer al-Jahiz.

To t h e Muslims, copying t h e Koran, t h e w r i t t e n Word of God,

is an a c t

of

deep

devotion, for in Islam, a r t is not separate from f a i t h . The Kufi script, which borrows i t s name from t h e c i t y of Kufa, is angular, geometric

and

monumental. TheNaakhi

calli-

graphic style, a rounded,

cursive,

easily legible script, was later Introduced.

These are but

two of t h e numerous styles of calligraphy t h a t developed as a reflection of t h e geographical diversity of t h e Islamic peoples.

S 3 *

• B y expanding outside its Arabian bound­ aries, Islam faced new social, legal and reli­ gious issues t h a t had not earlier challenged it. To resolve these issues, • FOUR SCHOOLS OF L A W • fiqh

appeared, representing different approaches to Ijtihad: Theological Reasoning.

1. H A I M A F l S C H O O L

Founded by A b u Hanifa (699¬ 767) who lived and died in Kufa. H e urged that free reason serve as the principal c o n d u i t to I s l a m i c inter­ pretation. Thus his became

the School

of

Opinion.

2. M A L İ K İ S C H O O L

Founded by M a l i k ibn Anas (710-795 ) who lived in Medina. H e rejected free reason and emphasized that the Tradi­ tions of the Prophet I (Hadith) should alone guide the Mus­ lim. H i s became the School of Tradition.

•

04

3. S H A F J ' I S C H O O L

F o u n d e d by M o h a m m a d i b n Idris al-Shafi'i (767-820) w h o s e major w o r k Risala established for Sunni Islam the Foundations of Jurisprudence. If there is a legal problem, the Muslim should try to solve it by first referring to the Koran; if there is no definite answer, he should turn to the Sunna; if there is still no answer, turn to the concensus of the whole community; and as a final recourse, draw an analogy with the Koran. For instance: alcoholic beverage is prohibited in the Koran, but there is no mention of hard drugs. Since alcohol is prohibited because of its intoxicating effect, and since hard drugs generate a similar effect, then by analogy, hard drugs are also prohibited.

4. H A N B A L 1 S C H O O L

Ahmad i b n Hanbal (780-855) lived and lectured in Baghdad. For h i m only the Koran and the Sunna guided the Muslim.

65

•

Muslim calligraphers turned words into shapes: fruits (apples and pears) and animals (birds and lions) infused language with visual impact.

These Schools of Law have moulded t h e intellectual life of Islam. There has never been a conflict between them because they fully accept

each other's

rules and

practices. Followers of these

legal schools c o n s t i t u t e nearly &b%

of the Muslim umma.

They are the • SUNNIS • (followers of the Sunna in the Books of Hadith).

The compilation of Hadith was undertaken

by t h e

Persian j u r i s t al-Bukhari (Ô10-Ô70) who produced Definitive (Sahih) edition. Out of t h e 600,000 ings that

he gathered

{and partly memorized),

identified only 7,275 as authentic

•

66

the say-

he

Prophetic sayings.

On Charity, the Prophet I srtirf: "The man who exerts himself on behalf of the widow and the poor one is like the one who struggles in the way of God, or the one who keeps awake at night for prayer and fasts during the day."

A Selection from al-Bukhari's

Hadith

On Faith: "None of you has faith unless he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." On Work:

"No one cats better food than that, which he eats out of the work of, his hands." On

Hospitality:

"A man should accompany his guest to the door of the house.'

On Knowledge:

I

"The learned ones are the heirs of the Prophets- they leave knowledge as their inhrritance; he who inherits it inherits a great fortune." 67 4-

The • SHI'ITES • were the Party (shi'a) of AH bin A b i Taleb

t h e f o u r t h Caliph t o rule t h e Muslim community (fi. 6 5 6 - 6 6 1 ) . His 5hi'a believed t h a t he should have been t h e f i r s t Caliph; they also believed t h a t a f t e r him came eleven Imams, t h e l a s t of whom went into occultation in Ô74, b u t would appear again at t h e end of t i m e as t h e Mahdi ( t h e chosen one) t o bring j u s t i c e t o t h e world. Each of t h e twelve Imams had divine powers which made him infallible in legal judgement; t h u s t h e Imam alone could rule t h e Umma.

The lion was the symbol of Ali. This is a calligraphic rendering of a prayer of praise to Ali.

Although Ali played a chief role in Shi'ite spirituality, the t w o Imams who formulated Shi'ite law were Mohammad Baqir ( 6 7 7 - 7 3 3 ) and Ja'far as-Sadik ( 7 0 2 - 7 6 5 ) .

3&

• Ali was murdered in Kufa in 661, and his followers called upon his eldest son Hasan, the second Imam, to become Caliph. He was l a t e r succeeded by his brother Hussein, a s t h e t h i r d Imam, As Hussein marched from Medina t o Kufa, he and his family were c u t down by t h e Umayyad Ruler Yazid in t h e field of Karbala, n o r t h w e s t of Kufa. Every 10th of Moharram, the Shi'ites mourn the death of Hussein and l a m e n t t h e i r f a i l u r e t o a s s i s t him.

The names of the twelve Imams.

From Shi'ism many s e c t s emerged that are today.

present

They include: t h e Zaidis, Ismailis, Agha Khanis,

Druzes, and Alawites.

Both Sunnis and Shi'ites recognize the primacy of the Koran and the Sunna. I n deciding matters outside those sources, however, the Sunnis depend on community concensus while the Shi'ites rely on the infallibility of the Imams.

&9

+

The m e t i c u l o u s scholarship used in t h e collection of t h e Koran and of t h e Had/t/i produced

a number of theological sciences crucial t o Islamic • TAFSEER • Exegesis

1. The Science of the Contexts o: Revelation: This science focused on the his torical circumstances

in whicl

the verses of the Koran were revealed.

To master

t h i s science

j u r i s t s had t o learn t h e exact dialect of Arabic used by KuraisK t h e Prophet's > tribe.

2. The Science o f Meccan and Medinan Verses (Historical Criticism):

The j u r i s t s studied the gradua stages

of Koranic revelation. This

science examined

•

90

chronology

3. The Science of Abrogation: In the Koran, God abrogated

certain

commande. For example, wine was condemned and prohibited

{Koran

2:219; 5:90), J u r i s t s had t o learn t h e reasons governing the divine

abrogations.

4. The Science of the Reputation of Transmitters: Because t h e compilation of t h e Koran and later of the Hadith depended on oral and written transmissions, there was need to verify t h e reliability of transmitters in order to arrive at an accurate t e x t and pronunciation. Thus t h e s t u d y of t h e transmitters' reputation, biography and genealogy.

In Kufa lived the first

Arab alchemist.

• JABIR B I N H U N A Y N • (fl. 7 6 0 - & 1 5 ) known in t h e West as Geber, "King of t h e Arabs". Aichemy had a special place in islamic because

science

It used experimentation t o t e s t t h e

speculative

theories on t h e nature

of t h e

universe. In so doing, alchemists shared t h e concerns

of theologians

who sought t o dis-

cover t h e divine order In the

creation.

Jabir's writings and experiments, along with t h e work of his disciples, t r a n s m i t t e d t h e knowledge of t h e mineral acids to t h e Western World. From the Arabic word f o r "alc h e m y Gflma tho wnrd "chemistry".

A 15lh-centuiy German illustration c
In t h e 9th and 10th centuries, t h e g r e a t e s t city in Islam and t h e world's center

of learning

was • BAGHDAD It was built in 7 6 2 by t h e Caliph al-Mansurand became the capital

of t h e Abbasid Dynasty.

Baghdad is t h e capital

of Iraq,

"Among the cities of the world, Baghdad stands out as the professor of the community of islam." The geographer Yaqut in 1228.

The circular plan of the city demonstrated the centralization of power in the hands of the ruler. N o n e o f the structures below survived the Mongol invader Hulako in 1258.

GATEWAY

GATEWAY

MOSQUE PALACE

CATEWAY

GATEWAY

•

I t was in Baghdad t h a t Islam came in

contact

with t h e civilizations of Persia, India and China.

The Muslims learned t h e a r t of Paper Production f r o m Chinese papermakers

captured

In a

battle

f o u g h t in 751. Less t h a n half a century later, t h e Barmicide family built t h e f i r s t paper mill in 3aqhdad. Only in the 13th century did theEuropeans learn the

the Abbasid era.

The Muslim developed a unique sensitivity f o r ink colors. A handbook by an 11th-cent u r y Tunisian writer l i s t s ruby-red, purple, green, and yellow colors along with shades of peacock-hue, rose, pistachio, and apricot.

•

Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians,

Sabaeans and Hindus harmoniously cooperated in research at the "House". Translations from Persian, Greek, Syriac and Sanskrit led t o the coining and Arabization of new words, many of which have found their way into t h e English language. Words of purely Arabic origin have also enriched t h e English vocabulary, among t h e m :

In Spanish, there are nearly 6 , 5 0 0 words of Arabic/Persian derivation.

Miscellaneous:

Medical terms alcohol camphor soda syrup talisman

carat cipher hazard

**** 9 9 *

In t h e House

of Wisdom, the f i r s t original

t r e a t i s e on Algebra was w r i t t e n by a Zoroast r i a n scientist

who had converted

to

Islam

• A L - K H A W A R I Z M I <• (750-550) The word "algebra" which entered the English language In the 1500's derives from t h e Arabic at-jabr, which was Khawarizmi's operation and ...

of "binding together"

equations

bones.

The binding of bones, from a medical text of the 14th century.

Al-Khawarizmi was the f i r s t mathematician t o use numerals instead of letters. The translation

of his work into Latin in t h e 12th

century introduced t h e "Arabic" numerals and t h e Zero (from Arabic s/fr) t o t h e West and made possible the beginnings of European mathematics.

The Muslims adopted

two

• N U M E R I C A L SYSTEMS • from India. The f i r s t was used in t h e western p a r t of t h e Islamic Empire and remains in use t o d a y in t h e Arab world:

The second was used In the eastern The Muslims referred to these "Indian"; upon their adoption

part.

numbers as in Europe, they

became known as Arabic numerals.

9

8

7

6

5

4

Islam advocated t h e study of arithmetic,

geometry

and physics because

these

sciences

theo-

logians

helped the

In relating human

motivation and action the divine will.

to

3

2

1

0

Science clarified the mysteries of Cod's creation.

The greatest

physician of t h e medieval world was • AR-RAZI • (365-952) known in Latin as Rhazes.

A f t e r living in Baghdad, he returned to his native city of Rayy, in Persia, and headed the hospital thereLong before t h e discovery of bacteria, the Importance

of hygiene: t o choose

ar-Razl

knew

a site for a

hospital in Baghdad, he hung pieces of meat a t various points around

the

city. He recommended

that

the hospital be built a t the location where t h e meat had putrefied the slowest.

Surgical instruments used in the 10th century.

Muslims were encouraged towards

medicine by t h e em-

phasis on ritual purity and physical cleanliness Koran and the

In t h e

Hadith.

From Isfahan, e a s t of Baghdad, came

another

Persian doctor, the "Prince of Physicians", • IBN SINA • Avicenna

(930-1037) He was a precocious boy who had memorized all the Koran by t h e time he was t e n . In close t o 1,000,000

words, Ibn Sina's Canon of

Medicine systematized t h e medical sciences Egyptians,

of t h e

t h e Greeks, t h e Romans, t h e Persians, t h e

Indians, and t h e Arabs. From t h e 1 2 t h t o t h e 17th century, i t was t h e chief t e x t used in European

medical

universi-

ties.

R O M AE. [n Typography Medina. M.D.XCIU.

IbnSina wroteabout surgery, but i t was in Muslim Spain, where religious authorities permitted

dissection,

Islamic surgery reached highest

The Canon published in Rome, 1593.

that its

standard. 103

•

•

Cordova Many physicians were philosophers and t h e Muslim university curriculum listed medicine and philosophy under t h e single heading of hikma (wisdom). The great center of wisdom in t h e West was • CORDOVA in

Andalusia

(the Muslim name of Spain).

"Hegrants wisdom to -whom He pleases; and fie to whom wisdom isgranted receives indeed a Benefit overflowing." 'Koran 2:269

Cordova i n the 12th century P O P U L A T I O N : 500,000 (Paris

40,000)

M O S Q U E S : 700 B A T H S : 300 (Englishmen

condemned

their use as pagan.)

L I B R A R I E S : 70 U N I V E R S I T Y H O L D I N G S : 400,000 books. (The

university

of Paris had one tenth that

S T R E E T S : Paved. (Oxford

students

ivaded in mud.)

RELIGIONS: I s l a m , Christianity and Judaism. (Nowhere

else in Europe was

there similar

coexistence.)

amount.)

• Islam encouraged philosophical speculation within t h e limits of religious f a i t h . Muslims examined t h e place of t h e rational thinker in a society ruled by divine law and revelation, and t h e relationship of theology t o philosophy. Ever since t h e days of Damascus,

Muslim philoso-

phers had been studying Greek sources, particularly Plato and A r i s t o t l e . Indeed, it was through t h e Muslims of Andalusia t h a t t h e writings of Aristotle entered Christian Europe.

ARISTOTELIS S T A G I R I T AM.

imiPfTCTicoRVM ritiNciPis D£ A N I M A I t 111. K r i U M V S .

Cum is4ttcrrms Qurduhcnfts 1VMM«

TURN,

Averroes

(1126-1196) oversaw the translation

of

A r i s t o t l e from Greek into

In Pn'm.i ptoponirni nobiimi,df difim/ui/timfn

Arabic and wrote over 3 6

inS(omJ4 A'mquontm ( U I M J I rw opinion ndr AniV rru rffmnj. In TmiJ « d i ropiA'J'i"" ol'inionn: AiUxrwilKr^t iionJmU* nitd Aninumimtrin qi#/lioifi.

commentaries

on the Greek

philosopher.

A f t e r their

5*mnw Prinf Cjp"t Pnmurn.Qiiiii o6
From Aristotle's treatise on the soul with the commentary of Averroes (16th century).

•

• 1BN RUSHD •

106

t r a n s l a t i o n into Latin, Ibn Rushd's writings so dominated the medieval Scholasticism of Europe t h a t in 1223, the University of Paris ba n ned "Ave rro i s m" fro m i t s curriculum.

Few heeded the ban since, t o t h e medieval student, Ibn Rushd was "The Commentator' on Aristotle "The Philosopher".

"The School of Athens", by Raphael, the Italian Renaissance painter. Ibn Rushd is in the turban.

Ibn Rushd believed t h a t Aristotelian philosophy and Koranic theology were "twin s i s t e r s " - a view which Muslim later firmly

rejected.

theologians

One of Ibn Rushd's disciples was the Jewish thinker • MUSA IBN M A Y M O O N • Maimonides

who introduced Averroism into

Judaism.

Like other Jewish writers in Andalusia, Ibn Maymoon wrote in Arabic and closely f o l lowed t h e teachings of his mentor. I t is i n M u s l i m Spain that the Jews produced their greatest poetry, philosophy and sciences since the first century C.E.

Although Aristotelian philosophy was suppressed by religious orthodoxy,

^ i i

islamic

philosophy as "Wisdom of Illumination"

con¬

tinued in Persia.

But

instead of dealing with the classical subjects of form and matter, t h e philosophers turned t o theosophy and Sufism.

•

106

In the Andalusia of philosophers, • ARABESQUE A N D GEOMETRIC • PATTERNS attained great beauty. Arabesque patterns are based on highly-stylized vegetal motifs, while geometric patterns rely on the j u x t a p o s i t i o n of regular polygons (triangles, squares and hexagons). These abstract elements are repeat e d infinitely t o create a uniform field of decoration. Whether embellishing a bowl, carving a wooden m'mbar or tiling a mosaic floor, arabesque patterns,

and

geometric

in their harmony and unity, convey t h e

infinity and indivisibility of God.

Arabesque

is man's discovery of God. That is why

t h e Muslim artist

never signed his work, whether on

stone, tile, wood, plaster, metal, textile, or miniature.

109

•

İsfahan Muslim philosophers often crossed p a t h s and pens with mystics and Sufis. The Sufi poet Jalal u l - D i n ar-Rumi (1207-1273) lived for a few years in t h e city of ISFAHAN in Iran.

/ sought a soul in the sea, And found a coral there; Beneath the foam for me An ocean was all laid bare. Into my heart's night Along a narrow way I groped: and lo! the light, An infinite land of day. Trans. A.J. Arberry.

In t h e 16th century, Isfahan became t h e capital

of t h e Safavid Empire.

The g r e a t e s t poets of Sufism in islam were Persian and t h e m o s t famous among them came from Isfahan, Shiraz, Tibriz, and Naisapur. Typical of their social mobility was Rumi: born a Persian in Balkh (Afghanis t a n ) , he travelled t o Aleppo (Syria), lived briefly In Isfahan then s e t t l e d in K,onya (Turkey) where he died. He was buried in t h e garden of t h e Sultan who was one of his disciples.

• The word "Sufi" probably derives from t h e Arabic Suf which means wool. Sufis

wore wool In order t o demon-

s t r a t e t h e i r rejection of luxury. The Prophet I had said:

"Do not wear silk or silk brocade, and do not drink in vessels of gold and silver, and do not eat in bowls made of them; for they are for them in this life and for us in the next."

Through t h e exercise of silence,

solitude,

hunger,

and wakefulness, Sufis attained of God. tated

the

the gnosis

They also medion t h e

Prophet

Mohammad > as t h e "Divine Light of Illumination". Thus t a u g h t the Andalusian Sufi I b n Arabi (1165-1240), known as the "Great Rumi in

• 112

Master", who met Damascus.

A wandering Sufi. (17th century)

•

Rumi spent 4 0 y e a r s composing his poem, t h e Methnawi. He opened i t with a reference t o t h e Nay (Flute), t h e musical i n s t r u m e n t which symbolizes t h e soul a f t e r i t s separation from God.

The followers of Rutni's Tariga (Sufi p a t h ) used music and dance in their q u e s t of divine oneness. They are t h e W h i r l i n g Dervishes. (Dervish is Persian for "poor").

Pivoting on one foot as they circle—righthand facing heaven, left hand facing earth— the dancers symbolize spinning planets revolving about God.

Two of t h e g r e a t e s t theoreticians of music in Islam were A b u l Faraj al-Isfahani (who came from Isfahan) and his contemporary, the Turkish Sufi • AL-FARABI • (370-950) Al-Farabi is credited with t h e invention of t h e viol and the development o f t h e Babylonian i n s t r u m e n t ,

From Islam, t h e West developed t h e rebec from t h e rabab the timbel t

from t h e label and the lute from al-oud (Arabic for wood).

Although the Koran has no explicit pronouncements on music, some jurists condemned it as frivolous and sinful. The Sufis, however, emphasized that i n an appropriate context, music served as a vehicle for spiritual illumination. "Listening to music has a divine effect that moves the heart to Allah. He who listens to it spiritually attains to Him, but he who listens sensually falls into heresy. "

The Sufi writer Dhu'l Noon (d. 860).

• 114

Central

to the

Sufis was the

Koran with i t s

Imagery of light (24: 4 - 5 ) and of the 'Veil" which separates God's splendor from the eyes of man. The life of t h e Prophet > and t h e Hijra also Inspired t h e Sufis who saw their own q u e s t of God as a journey ending with t h e beatific vision. One of the earliest

Sufis in Islam was a woman

from Basra, Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya (d. ¿301) who wrote t h e following prayer: "O God! Ifl worship You in fear of Hell, burn me in it; if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from it; ifl worship You for Your own being, do not withhold from me Your everlasting beauty."

I n the 16th century, the Sufi followers 0 of R u m i constructed clocks in order to regulate m the time of prayer; they also used the Rosary in (|k their meditations. From Mecca to Samarkand, the Sufis used the 99-bead rosary to recite the 99 names of G o d in the Koran. 115 •

Samarkand 2

In

*

SAMARKAND t h e Mongolian king Timurlane(Timurthe lame) built a c i t y "whose shining turrets dismayed the heavens and cast the fame of llion '$ tower to hell" (Christopher Marlowe, English playwright.)

Samarkand is in t h e heart of Asia and became t h e cultural center of Eastern Islam a f t e r t h e fall of Baghdad.

Timurlane pushed Islam westward towards Moscow and eastward towards t h e Indian Ganges river. His grandson, Ulugh Beg, built one of t h e f i n e s t observatories (1420¬ 1437) in Islamic history.

a

The observatory had a large arc with which the of the celestial be

altitude

bodies could

measured.

'It zoos He that gave the sun his Brightness and the moon her fight, ordaining her phases that you may (earn to compute the seasons and the years'

Xprm 10:5

C 117

•

In Islam, the study of nature is pari of religious life, and there is no contradiction between faith and scientific inquiry.

• Muslims specifically studied astronomy and charted constellations in o r d e r t o identify t h e direction of t h e û i b l a , t h e beginning of t h e lunar year and the time of prayer. Their research was inspired by the Koran's many references t o astronomy.

The constellation Acrab, from the Arabic for "scorpion".

Omar Khayyam (d. 1123), famous for his poems, t h e Rubahn/at. was more renowned in Islamic history as an astronomer, head of the observatory

in t h e Persian

city

of Rayy and produced a solar calendar

far

more accurate

than i t s Gregorian

p a r t used in t h e Christian West. •

116

he was

counter-

I Astronomy was also useful t o t r a ders. Samarkand was a t t h e cent e r of t h e "silk route" t h a t linked I t h e Eastern Mediterranean with China, a land which t h e Muslims had partly conquered in the early ôth century. Between then and the 16th century, t h e Indian Ocean was exclusively a Muslim basin.

Combination of Chinese and Arabic calligraphy.

There is no tension

in

Islam between devotion and business affairs:

H tSJSfc'fc

'Oyowwko Believe!Squandernot your zoealtft among yourselves in vanity, except it Be a trade By mutual consent.' Kpran 4:29

Many

pilgrims t o Mecca

sustained

them-

selves by t r a d e and relied in their travels the detailed

on

maps of the world produced by

Muslims. 119 •

These maps helped t h e Muslims determine t h e i r location with respect t o Mecca for prayer and pilgrimage, identify

place-names

mentioned in t h e Koran and in t h e

Hadith

and locate religious sites associated with t h e Prophet > and t h e f i r s t four Caliphs.

Al-Idrisi's map - translated into English. In keeping with Muslim geographic tradition, the map places the South at the top of the page.

# AL-IDRISI # (1100-1166) studied in Cordova and lived in Palermo, Sicily, where he prepared for King Roger II The Book of Roger with an A t l a s (from t h e Arabic word for "smooth") of t h e world, based on collected •

120

empirical d a t a .

To the Far East

and to the European West, Muslim

traders

silks and textiles.That is why many

carried

* TEXTILES # derive t h e i r

names

from

Arabic

and

Persian.

Textile products were used extensively by Muslims: until today, the carpet remains the principal furnishing in the mosque. A s for the traditional Islamic house, where loose furniture is practically nonexistent, one finds an abundance of carpets, mattresses and cushions. The designs of textile products also influenced tile and mosaic patterns found in Islamic architecture. To Muslims, there is no separation between religious art and secular craft. 121

•

Cairo 2 Throughout i t s development, Islam was an urban civilization, Indeed, many verses in t h e Koran draw on city life for their Imagery. A fine example of t h e Islamic c i t y is

Misr (Egypt)... is extensive in its territories and buildings, unequalled in its beauty and splendor. It is the resting place of weary travellers and the marketplace of rich and poor alike. Ibn Battuta, 13th-century traveller.

I

•

123

•

The spine of t h e Islamic c i t y was the • MARKETPLACE • souq

(bazaar in Persian). Within t h e market were the bathe, street fountains, schools, khans, houses, and mosques. The market is subdivided into separate units specializing in different commodities and crafts.

T h e sotuf c o m e s a l i v e each

day with

the

s m e l l s o f s p i c e s , the colors

of f r u i t s a n d

the s o u r i d s o f the c o p persmiths'pounding.

•

124

The • PUBLIC B A T H • hammam

was an i n s t i t u t i o n inherited from t h e Romans.

The Muslims, however,

did n o t use i t for social interaction and pleasure; for

t h e bath was s t r i c t l y

washing

and

"cleanliness

purification:

is a sign

Traditionally, separate were provided

for

of

faith".

hammams

• T h e distinctive s o u n d i n s i d e the bath

men and women,

is t h e clatter o f the Quhqab ( w o o d e n

poorer

s l i p p e r s w h i c h protect f r o m the h e a t e d

with the

communities

floor).

A f t e r c h a n g i n g , b a t h e r s relax

i n t h e s t e a m r o o m , s t r e t c h o u t for a

sharing t h e same

v i g o r o u s r u b - d o w n , t h e n - p r o c e e d to a

facility

medium-temperature

at

f e r e n t times.

dif-

room

to

d o w n before e n t e r i n g the cold

cool room

to s p l a s h i n w a t e r . T h e y t h e n e n j o y a c u p of tea or coffee as the

If your skin is soft, lufa sunlight fillers through no. 1 is used; if your skin the p i e r c e d d o m e a b o v e . is hard, the choice is the rougher lufa no. 3. You are then so scrubbed even "your wife won't recognize you when you leave." *>

A

With t h e long days spent in t h e

marketplace

came t h « need f o r • STREET F O U N T A I N S • sabeel These fountains, socially useful and a r t i s t i cally appealing, were generally endowed by benefactors.

The Koran encouraged charity:

'(Do good; for Qod Coves those who do good.' %gran 39:9 An inscription on the fountain would hear a Koranic verse, the date of construction, and the name of the benefactor. The latter would payfor the water to be brought from the Nile and hire an employee to regulate the taps at specific times.

Near many of these fountains, madrasas (schools) w e r e e n dowed for the instruction of the youth. The s i s t e r of S a l a d i n ,

known as Sit al-Sham (Lady of Damascus), founded two schools for religious education located n e a r fountains.

The largest • MADRASA • religious school

in Egypt is t h a t of Sultan Hasan ( 1 3 5 6 - 1 3 6 3 ) . I t is 5 5 , 1 0 0 square f e e t and c o n s i s t s of a school, a mosque, and a mausoleum for t h e Sultan. The 15th-century historian al-Maqrizi considered i t an architectural wonder. This madraea is typical of Islamic architecture in combining t h e public function (teaching) with the private function (burial). Four large hails oyen onto a central courtyard (5ahn).

(iwans)

The /wans

are for instruction in each of t h e Four Schools of Sunni Islam. M o s t schools followed t h i s four-fold division. G r a m m a r , philosophy a n d n a t u r a l sciences were also taught. The Koran had encouraged the pursuit of learning:

QIBLA AXIS

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, Plan- Cairo.

'Are those who know equal with those who know not?' lípran 2:195

Visitors t o the city stayed in the • KHAN • Inn

a t w o - s t o r e y complex overlooking a central courtyard. The lower storeys provided stables and storage space, while t h e upper served as apartments. A famous khan in Cairo was K h a n al-Khaleeli, t h e "khan of t h e man from Hebron", built in the 15th century. Today, the name designates the largest touristic

marketplace

in Egypt. Many

of t h e novels of Nobel Prize winner Najeeb Mahfouzare s e t in t h i s area of Cairo where t h e author

still lives.

II

J The surface treatment, I p r o p o r t i o n , a r t i c u l a t i o n off forms, a n d c o m p a r t m e n t a l i z a t i o nI of spaces allowed even the largest buUdingsinlslam to be human in scale.

Outside t h e city was t h e • CARAVANSERAI • Road Inn "where travellers alight with their beasts. At each caravanserai is a public watering-place and a shop at which they buy what they need for themselves and their beasts." The traveller Ibn Battuta on the road from Egypt via Palestine to Syria in 1326.

Islamic architecture is unrivaled i n its control of l i g h t i n g and ventilation.

wind catchers

If t h e traveller

had relatives

or friends In

the city, he would stay In their house. The • I S L A M I C HOUSE • was Inward-looking and consisted of an Interior square or rectangular courtyard surrounded by t h e living quarters. The courtyard provided privacy, ventilated the house, and allowedforoutdooractivities awayfrom s t r e e t d u s t and heat.

Plan of a courtyard house, Egypt.

•

130

A n interesting architectural feature in the Islamic city, seen particularly in housing, is the musharabiyya. A delicate turned-wood screen, the musharabiyya filters sunlight, admits air and permits those inside to look out w i t h o u t being seen.

i ftTi.Ti.Tjl I riTATj.1 • ETiTATJ

\ vxri.Ti.1 ;••

• i ftTi.Tj.Ti

The indirect entrance a c t s as a visual

barrier,

eound buffer and psychological break between "out" and "in". In a crowded city, the The courtyard house is unique in its energy-conserving use of internal climate.

entrance

Indirect

of t h e mosque

also provides t h e tion space

transi-

between

the

main facade which aligns with t h e s t r e e t , and t h e Qibla axis which d i c t a t e s

Tradirionalry,exterior house faca des are kept sedate, without any display of wealth. Onlyafterentering the house can the visitor recognize the host's social standing in the community.

t h e internal orientation (see plan page 127).

Arches, vaults and domes

are dominant f e a t u r e s in Islamic architecture. The

variety of styles and building materials reflects t h e geographical diversity of t h e Islamic people. It was through Islam t h a t t h e pointed arch and vault were Introduced

to Europe.

The focus of t h e Islamic city was t h e Community Mosque. In Cairo, t h e oldest community mosque is • AL-AZHAR • builtin 9 7 0 , one year a f t e r t h e foundation of t h e city, and probably named after the Prophet's daughter, fatlma az-Zahra'. Al-Azhar is one of t h e g r e a t e s t i n s t i t u t i o n s for Islamic learning and t h e oldest continuously functioning university in t h e western hemisphere. B u t since Islam has no religious hierarchy, no i n s t i t u t i o n , however prestigious, has a u t h o r i t y over t h e f a i t h of believers.

It w a s in Mamluke Cairo that the crescent first decorated the cuppola (from Arabic Qubba) of the mosque. Nearly every mosque now has a crescent.

• 132

•

In Cairo is buried t h e f a t h e r of t h e sciences of anthropology and economics, t h e historiographer I b n Khaldoon (1332-1406)

For Ibn Khaldoon, t h e basic form of civilized society was t h e city: because man in t h e city was sophisticated and open-minded, he was less prone t o war and ultimately weaker t h a n t h e Bedouin. With his strong tribal bond (a&abiyya),

the

Bedouin

successfully invaded and prevailed over t h e city; but within four generations, he would be corrupted by t h e city and defeated by a new generation of

advancing

Bedouins.

Ibn Khaldoon's Al-Muqaddima applied structured

(the

Introduction)

reasoning to history and pro-

posed a theory of civilization t h a t is w i t h o u t parallel in ancient or medieval writings.

133

•

From Cairo, and the neighboring city of Kalrawan in Tunisia, Islam spread t o North and Central Africa and reached •

DJENNE in Mali whose empire flourished between t h e 13th and 16th Islam

centuries.

was successful in gaining

because proclaimed

converts

t h e preachers and t r a d e r s who i t were akin t o t h e

African

population in culture and skin color,

and

because the message of Islam affirmed racial equality.

In a Hadith, the Prophet I declared: "People: God is One and your Father is One. Arabs are not superior to non-Arabs, nor are non-Arabs superior to Arabs; nor is the black superior to the red, nor the red to the black except in piety." Prophetic Hadith

a . •

134

The eastern facade of the Djenne mosque in Mali points to Mecca. As with other mosques in Africa- known as the Sudanic mosques— the governing architectural principle is simplicity. In a Hadith, the Prophet I advised: "I have not been commanded to decorate the mosques."

•

In 1352, t h e traveller

Ibn B a t t u t a visited

Mali in Central Africa and wrote about Muslim

Inhabitants:

"The black people possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence. They do not confiscate the property of any white man who dies in their country, even if it be uncounted wealth. They are careful to observe the hours of prayer, and assiduous in attending them in congregations and in bringing up their children to them." Trans. H.A.R. Gibb.

For hundreds of years, schola r s f r o m as f a r as Baghdad and Cordova travelled to the African mosquee

to

study

theology and mysticism.

•

136

the

The capital of the Mali Empire was • TIMBUCTOO • a c i t y t h a t had grown around i t s mosques.

Tf m b u cto o boa s t e d exte n s iVe

Thus Arabic appears

private libraries, and

served

Hausaand Swahili languages;

of

learning

Indeed, t h e word Swahili de-

south of the Sahara.

From i t

rives from t h e Arabic word

as the

center

missionaries Ghana,

travelled

t h e Ivory

Guinea and other and

to

for

in t h e

"coast".

Coast,

locations

established

schools that continue

In Africa evolved Sufi

Koran

organized

around

today.

whose blood bore

orders

families barakat

(miraculous blessings). From the

Nigeria t o Morocco, t h e coun-

social greatness

of Central

tryside is d o t t e d with shrines

Africa

with

of t h e Marabouts

The i n t e l l e c t u a l coincide

growth of Islam.

and

the

From the

Nile t o the Niger, and from

(holy per-

sons) whose invocation could result in

miracles.

t h e 8>th to the 13th century, powerful cultures emerged In Songhai, Kanem-Bornu and Benin t h a t were rooted in t h e language and Imagination

of

Islam.

137 •

Istanbul A t t h e beginning of the 16th century, all North Africa fell t o t h e new Muslim power of the Ottoman Turks whose capital was •

ISTANBUL once Constantinople (the name was officially changed in 1930). From t h e 14th until t h e 16th century, t h e Ottomans had the m o s t powerful army in t h e world. Even a f t e r i t s decline, it was still remembered for i t s m i g h t a n d its marching music. Thus Mozart's

"Turkish

March". By t h e early ISOO's, American

musicians

adopted

Turkish-

styleinstruments like t h e t e n o r d r u m , bass d r u m , cymbal, and crescent.

A Turkish Janissary.

Both European and American bands of the 18th and 19th centuries included instrumentalists dressed in Janissary costume.

Muslim armies had a central elite corps that was surrounded

bya multi-racial soldiery. Thefamous

fighting force of t h e Ottoman

army was

the

Janissary ( t h e "new soldiers"). They were Christian

slaves

raised from childhood in military discipline, Koranic

orthodoxy

and celibacy. I t is through them that

the

Scimitar

(Sabre) became sociated

as-

with Islam.

159*

• The Koran did not prohibit war, but limited i t s application to particular conditions. War was n o t t o be waged f o r t e r r i t o rial gain, n o r f o r racial superiority, nor for power. War was for t h e establishment of f a i t h and social j u s t i c e and for t h e eradication of evil.

A 16th-century woodcut from Germany. Contrast the Turkish horsemen (right) in their light armor and the ponderous Christian cavalry.

Women and children, t h e religious and t h e aged, were not t o be harmed.

Those who died In

b a t t l e were t o be remembered as m a r t y r s of f a i t h :

'9{cvcr think that those u Ho were stain in tfie cause of iiod arc dead. 'Tticiiarc alive, and will IK provided for By their Lord. 'Koran .1:169

• 140

The Janissaries extended Islam into t h e heart of Europe and reached Vienna, where no Muslim had ever fought.

141

•

The Janissaries reached their height under • S U L E Y M A N THE L A W M A K E R • (fi. 1520-1566) Roads and caravanserais were built, t r a d e s and c r a f t s flourished, and social services were so extended t h a t the Muslim Empire became a welfare s t a t e with all t h e benefits of an efficient bureaucracy and legal system. Thus t h i s poem by Suieyman: To i>e charitable and kind is the glory of the throne. Remember, O Suieyman, and make these qualities your crown in counting your subjects to make them happy. Do not think to be better than the least of them and know that many of them are better than yourself. Every man is a brother and as a brother you must love him. For a true Muslim, O Suieyman, this precept is sacred. ^-rtr^-^^A

The Tughra, or calligi phic emblem, bearinji Suleyman's name.

In Süleyman, power was not divested from piety. •

142

Under Suieyman, t h e population grew: a f t e r Jews were expelled from Catholic Spain in 1492, they found refuge in the Muslim Empire. A n o t h e r reason f o r g r o w t h was t h e conversion of European and Eastern Christ i a n s t o Islam.

A Jewish merchant by a 16th-century French traveller.

"Seeing how many daily go from us to them," wrote the English traveller Henry Blount in 1636, "and how few of theirs to us, it appears of what consequence the prosperity of Islam is to draw men upon it."

Still, from the beginnings of Islam u n t i l today, Christians have remained and prospered i n Musl i m lands. I n contrast, the Christian Reconquest i n 15th-century Spain left few Muslims and fewer mosques.

One of t h e m o s t famous converts

to Islam was

• SINAN • (b. 1491), the court

architect.

Born in Anatolia, he rose through t h e Janissary system t o design 3 3 4 buildingsfor Suieyman and his successor. In 1 5 6 0 , Sinan completed the Sulaymaniyya Complex in Istanbul.

It consisted

of a mosque

surrounded by seven colleges, a hospital and an asylum, a b a t h , a soup kitchen, schools, t a i n s , wrestling grounds, shops, and the

fountomb

of Suieyman all covered by 5 0 0 domes. In t h i s mosque, Sinan proved t h a t he could surpass

the greatest

architecturewas his

•

144

design In

Byzantine

S t . Sophia. The Sulaymaniyya

masterpiece.

The Ottomans

popularized

• COFFEE-HOUSE

the

•

The coffee bean had long been used in Yemen, and the first coffee-house The concept

originated

In Aleppo, Syria.

of the coffee-house then

spread

from Istanbul t o Vienna and the r e s t of t h e world. Tulips (from t h e Persian word for "Turban") were also introduced t o Europe during t h e reign of Suleyman. In t h e 17th century, England, Holland and France

were

seized

"Tulipomania", when

by

certain

tulip bulbs were worth 2 5 0 sheep. In t h e 1S>th century, Sultan Ahmad I I I turned his rule into t h e Reign of t h e Tulip. Every April, when the moon was full, t h e Sultan would organize a Tulip Festival in which t u r t l e s with candles

on their backs lit up t h e tulip gar-

dens. The tulip as an artistic

motif appears

in

Islamic a r t from Istanbul t o India. 145

•

ra Islam reached India in 711 and by the 16th century had culminated in t h e Mughal Empire with • AGRA as t h e capital. In 1635», i t was moved to Delhi, which remains India's

capital.

The height of the Mughal (from the word Mongol) Empire was between 1526 and 1707, The l a s t Mughal emperor was sent into exile by t h e British in 15>5S>.

•

146

The palace administration

and court life of

t h e Mughals included poetry

readings,

musical recitals and Chess. Through t h e Muslims of India, and from t h e 5 t h century on, chess spread to the rest

of

t h e wor\d. The language of the Mughal court was Persian, and "Check mate" derives from t h e Fersian words Shah mat (the king is dead).

• Although India was under Islamic rule, Muslims represented only a minority of t h e population, t h e prevailing religion being Hinduism. Hindus, with their indigenously vibrant culture, had l i t t l e interaction with Muslims outside the urban centers of imperial power. To meet t h i s challenge of a minority ruling t h e majority, • AKBAR • (1542-1605) one of t h e g r e a t e s t Muslim kings of India, instituted toleration. INDIA H 160S

UMOtP AKB*B

Akbar reconciled

Islam

and Hinduism: he introduced a fair s y s t e m of revenue

assessment

and appointed

a Hindu

as his imperial minister. He also removed t h e extra t a x which Islam Imposed

•

146

on Hindus, replaced the lunar with the solar

calen-

dar and ordered Muslims not to slaughter

cows.

Akbar had sensitive a r t i s t i c t a s t e . He is accredited with the beginning of Mughal Painting and Miniature. Akba r brought a r t i s t s from the Safavid cou r t in Isfahan t o supervise his studio, known a s K/tab Khaneh. Over a hundred painters, many of them Hindu, illustrated Arabic, Persian and Indian manuscripts.

Realism marked the work of Mansur, "Wonder of the Age", during the reign of Akbar's son, Jahangir, who brought Persian mores and manners to court.

The g r e a t e s t of Indo-lslamic a r t s was archit e c t u r e , which prospered under Shah Jahan, Akbar's grandson. When his wife Mümtaz Mahal died in 1631, he decided t o build for her in Agra t h e supreme garden tomb, t h e • TAJ M A H A L •

i

Over 22,000

expert craftsmen

from India,

Asia and Europe were employed for 2 2 years (1632-1654) in the building of t h i s "miracle of miracles, the final wonder of the world".

architects

worked on t h e project, including

t h e Emperor himself.

150

Various

The Taj Mahal fuses both t h e Muslim and Hindu style. The pointed the onion-shaped

arch, dome

and t h e arabesque are Muslim-inspired.

The

Hindu Influence is apparent in the white marble, t h e perforated

grills and

t h e emphasis on geometrical

relationships

within t h e building (the overall plan is typical of other Mughal t o m b s in Delhi and Sikandra).

151 •

•

ia From India, Islam spread to the neighboring islands of Sri Lanka and t h e Maldives, and then to Southeast Christians

Asia.

A t a t i m e when

were colonizing America,

Muslims

were converting the peoples of Malaysia, Southern Philippines and Indonesia. and Arab teachers

Indian

preached Islam and

peacefully overpowered the strong

Hindu-

Buddhist culture with t h e clarity of t h e Koranic creed; they also social organization

by freeing t h e common

man from Hindu caste

• 152

revolutionized

bondage.

A book stand for a large copy of the Koran.

Indonesia is 9 0 % Muslim and has the world's largest Muslim population ( 1 7 4 , 9 0 0 , 0 0 0 ) in any one country. Pakistan, which gained independence in 1947 t o establish an Islamic s t a t e (the word Pakistan means "Land of the Pure"), comes second.

Cintrai andSouth A f t e r India became a p a r t of t h e British Empire in t h e 19th century, many Muslims were sent t o t h e Caribbean Island of Trinidad and t o Guyana and Suriname a s indentured laborers. The Dutch also sent Muslim workers from Indonesia t o Central and South America. With t h e

independence

of t h e s e former colonies, Muslims rose t o prominent

positions: Hamilton Green, t h e

prime minister of Guyana, is a Muslim; one of t h e m o s t successful business communit i e s in Panama consists of Indian Muslims.

W

,

X

REGIONAL OFFICE O F

MUSLIM

WORLD

—

. ^ . . p .

L E A G U E ,

[fcL fi>*nMlDAD < THE CARIBBEAN ^

erica A t t h e t u r n of t h i s century, thousands of Muslims emigrated from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Persia and other Middle Eastern countries, and settled In South America t o work as traders. Some Muslims adapted their names to Spanish as in t h e case of t h e president of Argentina, Carlos Menem (whose Syrian parents converted to Christ i a n i t y from Islam); others strengthened their community f a i t h by building mosques, often in t h e style of their Arabic or Iranian tradition.

Brazil h a s t h e l a r g e s t M u s l i m population (half a million) in South America. Argentina comes second

("550,000

Muslims), but t h e small

country of Guyana boasts

the highest num-

ber of mosques-130 mosques for j u s t under 7 5 , 0 0 0 worshippers. There are about a million and a half Muslims in South America. C 155

United States In t h e United S t a t e s live nearly four million Muslims consisting

of converts and emi-

grants. The emigrants

came at t h e end of t h e 19th

century from Arab countries and built t h e f i r s t mosque in North America in Cedar Rapids

(1934). They also built the f i r s t all-

Muslim cemetery

in Mecca. In 1953. the soldier's

dogtag began to include " I " t o refer t o the American of Islamic f a i t h ; in June 1991. and for the f i r s t time, a Muslim Imam gave the invocation at the chamber of

Congress.

The Muslims have found welcome in predominantlyChristian America: "The church and the Muslim community are related by history and by God as an expression and application of the covenant of Abraham, islam has its place in God's purpose in election and creation." The Reformed Church of America

• 156

Momentum t o Islam in t h e United States has come from African-Americans who have turned to the Isoranic teaching of racial equality with profound conviction. Although the early s t i r r i n g s of Islam included among them unorthodox elements, there was a return t o t h e doctrines of t h e Koran and the Sunna under t h e charismatic leadership of Malcolm X. Cassius Clay, a friend of Malcolm X, converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

After

going

to

Mecca on pilgrimage, M a l c o l m X praised t h e a n t i racialism of Islam: "I remember one night," he wrote, "llayawake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land- every color and class and rank, high officials and beggars alike, all snored in the same language."

157 •

<Europe Iff Muslims from India and from other count r i e s of t h e Commonwealth emigrated

to

England. Today, Muslims c o n s t i t u t e nearly 4% of t h e population of t h e United Kingdom. The s i t u a t i o n is similar in France, where N o r t h African Muslims from t h e former French colonies of Algiers, Tunisia and Morocco

have settled.

In Germany, nearly

5% of t h e population consists "Visitor Workers".

of Muslim

. i

The oldest mosque in Germany.

Islam t o d a y is t h e second largest religion in Europe. There are significant Muslim populat i o n s of professionals, workers and s t u d e n t s in every region of Western

158

Europe.

In t h e i r new European homes, Muslims have cherished t h e i r religious traditions,

along

with their distinctive cultural and mora! heritage. Whether in Holland or in Spain, they t u r n t o Mecca during prayer, give their children Koranic names and study master European

Arabic

to

theology. religious and secular i n s t i t u t i o n s

have cooperated

with the Immigrants:

1973, t h e Vatican c i t y donated

In

land for the

c o n s t r u c t i o n of a mosque t o serve Italy's one million Muslims, and a year later, Belgium recognized Islamic Law as t h e legal code of i t s Muslim community.

In 1966, the Documents of Vatican II declared: "Upon the Muslims, too, the church looks zvithesteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all-powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to men... They prize the moral life, and give worship to God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."

• In t h e i r attempts to sustain their religious -identity, however, Muslims have posed difficult challenges t o t h e European social and legal s y s t e m : should t h e Muslim teacher at state-run schools be allowed time for t h e five daily prayers? Should t h e sexes be separated In t h e classroom? Should girls be allowed their head cover at secular schools? Should t h e ritual slaughter of animals at t h e Adha f e a s t be permitted without government Inspection?

A Muslim in The Hague. Holland.

The differences which Muslims exhibit have led t o violent o u t b u r s t s against them. Unemployed laborers, Neo-Nazis and xénophobes have mistakenly linked t h e Immigrants to social and industrial failure. • 160

attacks

o

LA VIOLENCE

The victory of t h e extreme right-wing p a r t y in t h e recent French elections is proof of t h e rising t i d e of hatred and intolerance a g a i n s t Muslims in Europe. 161 •

• These are t h e countries in t h e world which have a Muslim majority or nearmajority (above 50%).

Afghanistan (Central Asia) Albania (Europe) Algeria (Mediterranean Basin) Brunei (Southeast Asia) Chad (Central Africa) Djibouti (East Africa) Egypt (Mediterranean Basin) Gabon (West Africa) Gambia (West Africa) Guinea (West Africa) Gunae-Bissau (West Africa) Indonesia (Southeast Asia) Iran (Central Asia) Iraq (West Asia) Jordan (West Asia) Kuwait (Persian Gulf) Lebanon (Mediterranean Basin) Libya (Mediterranean Basin) Malaysia (Southeast Asia) Maldives (Indian Ocean)

rfffffff Mali (West Africa) Mauritania (Northwest Africa) Morocco (Mediterranean Basin) Niger (North-Central Asia) Nigeria (West Africa) Oman (Persian Gulf) Pakistan (South Asia) Palestine (Mediterranean Basin) Qatar (Persian Gulf) Saudi Arabia (Southwest Asia) Senegal (West Africa) Sierra Leone (West Africa) Somalia (East Africa) Sudan (East Africa) Syria (Mediterranean Basin) Tunisia (Mediterranean Basin) Turkey (Mediterranean Basin) United Arab Emirates (Persian Gulf) Yemen (Red Sea)

In t h e former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan,

Uzbekistan,

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Taj iki s t a n a nd Ky rgyzsta nail have Muslim majorities. 163

•

Regardless of nationality or color, race or social status, sex or language, Muslims v i e w themselves as one c o m m u n i t y i n s u b m i s s i o n to G o d . A n d regardless of historic, geographic or cultural differences, Muslims share t h e l i g h t of G o d i n the Koran.

•

'Qodis

the tight of the heavens and the earth, ttfis

light may Be compared to a niche that enshrines a tamp, the tamp •within a crystalstar-lifce Brilliance. It is tit from a Blessed olive tree neither eastern or western.

Its very oil would almost shine forth,

though no fire touched it. Light upon tight; Qod guides to !His tight whom Jde wilt." •Koran 24:35

•

164

STRAIGHT PATH

So

let there he a Body among you who may caCCto

the good, enjoin what is esteemed and forbid what is odious. They are those who willBe successful' Xoran 3:104

•

166

F3y the end of World War I in 191&, nearly all t h e lands of Islam were ruled by Britain, France, Holland, Russia, and Italy.

Capitals like Damascus and Baghdad

which

had never been conquered came under Western colonization, and in 1917, British forces led by General Allenby entered Jerusalem. Indicative of Britain's dismissive a t t i t u d e towards t h e inhabitants of Palestine, the Proclamation

was published in

English, French and Italian, but not in t h e native language of the people,

Arabic.

IM10CLAMATI0N O F MAltTIAL L A W IN JliltUSALKM. To the inhabitant* of Jerusalem Ihe Bleaaed and Ihe people dwelling in ita vicinity. The defeat inflicted upon the Turin by the troop* under my command ha* resulted in tha occupation of T O O T City by my forooa. I therefore here and now proclaim it to be under Martial Law. under which form of edminiatration it will remain eo long aa military oonaidarationa make it neoeaaary. However, teat any of you ahould be alarmed by naaon of yonr experience* at the hand* at the enemy who haa retired. I hereby inform you that it ia my deaire that every poreon abonld poraoe hi* lawful buainea* without fear of interruption. Furthermore, ainoe your (Sly ia regarded with affection by lh* adherent* or three of ihe trroel religion* of — a a d ita sou haa bean oonaeoraied by the prayera and pilgrimage* of davont people of Ihoae three religion* tor many oenturiea, therefore do I make known to yon thai every aaorad building, monument, holy *poi. •hrine. traditional aite. endowment, pioua bequMl or oualomary place of prayer, of whatsoever farm of the three religion*, will be maintained and protected according to lh* " " ' ' " g onatoma aad belieh of thoae to wboee butha Ibey are sacred. HllMdNU

£mat*j- III?.

IIENItV

H V N H 4 N

The only Muslim capital that was

AI.LKNHY.

General,

spared

was Istanbul. The Western countries exploited t h e resources

of Var-aHslam,

natural

"Abode of Islam,"

and turned i t into a market for their exports.

In so doing, they divided t h e Muslim Umma into... 167*

On t h e newly emergent

nation

state,

powers

the

Installed

Western

a ruler who was pro¬

tective of their interests, and whowasculturallyand linguistically Westernized. The ruler governed of checks

w i t h o u t a system or balances

and

relied for his protection on a Western - trained

internal

security system. He and t h e ruling elite lived affluently while t h e majority of t h e population remained poor, fearful and disenfranchised. The West which had installed him urged neither social nor political change: what was good in a Western democracy

was to be denied

the T h e S h a h of I r a n .

Muslim subjects.

Since the creation of the independent states, M u s l i m s have tried to identify the path towards political stability, modernization and religious continuity. • FOUR MODELS have been tried:

•

I. The Model of S E C U L A R I Z A T I O N

The model of

seculariza-

tion was ado pted c h i ef ly by Turkey.

Under

Its

leader Mustapha Kamal ( A t t a t u r k ) , t h e Turks changed their

A

the

script

Arabic t o t h e

alphabet, caliphate,

from Koman

abolished replaced

the Koranic

law with a legal system derived f r o m discarded

France,

and

theOttomanhead

g e a r ( t h e f e z ) in favor of t h e hat.

In t h e 1930's and under Keza Shah, Iran also downplayed i t s Islamic character Islamic Sassanlan formulated

In favor of Its pre-

roots; in Indonesia, t h e s t a t e

a universalistic ideology, Fancasila,

"the

five principles", which governed all social, political and educational •

170

institutions.

• Secularization exclusively affected t h e urban centers and t h e ruling socio-economic groups: i t did not touch the lives of the majority of t h e people who viewed i t as an imposition from t h e West (Iran) or t h e Communist E a s t (Indonesia). As a result, t h e peoples reacted: in 1975, Iran became

an

Islamic

Republic. Ayatullah

Khomeini

was influenced by t h e Pakistani t h e o l o g i a n M awlana Mawdudi ( 1 9 0 3 - 7 9 ) who argued f o r a s t a t e applying Shar/'a and ruled by one man a s s i s t e d by qualified Koranic interpreters.

Ayatollah Khomeini.

By circulating his sermons on c a s s e t t e , Khomeini could reach the disaffected both inside Iran and elsewhere among Muslims. From Nigeria t o Malaysia, Khomeini became the hero who woutd overturn secularism and defeat the West, "the great Satan".

II. The Model of H A R M O N Y

From t h e 16th century on, some Muslim theologians emphasized t h e harmony between Islam and t h e modem society of t h e West. Once t h e Koran was Interpreted in i t s rational meaning, they argued, there would be no apparent difference between i t s vision of human life under God and the challenges of technological and industrial society.

For

Instance,

•

Democracy is equivalent t o the Koranic principle of Shura (consultation of t h e ruler with others), which King Fahd applied In Saudi Arabia in 1992;

•

P u b l i c o p i n i o n is consensus

•

Abortion is not allowed except in cases of danger

of the community;

to the mother on t h e basis of t h e

Koran's prohibition of murder;

• 172

m

A t t e n t i o n t o t h e environment is identified with God's role as creator and preserver of heaven and earth, and with man's d u t y t o respect God's workmanship;

•

Science is encouraged becausethe Koran, more than any other monotheistic t e x t , advocates research and inquiry.

The founder of t h i s harmonizing trend In Islam is t h e theologian

from Central Asia, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

( 1 6 3 9 - 9 7 ) and his disciple Mohammad Abdu.

Both

t a u g h t a t a l - A z h a r mosque in Cairo, and t h e i r teachings

touched

the whole world of Islam.

Mohammad Abdu.

From Indonesia to Malaysia, and from Jordan, Syria, Morocco, to Mauritania and Nigeria (the largest Muslim state in Africa), the impact of this harmony has continued to the present:

Subjects live under a constitution derived from t h e West t h a t governs t h e s t a t e ' s International banking system shari'a law that

and trading agreements; governs

marriage,

In civil affairs,

and under

divorce,

ance, punishment and o t h e r personal

affairs, inherit-

matters.

Non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim

s t a t e follow t h e laws of their religious community.

173*

III. The Model of SOCIALISM Recognizing t h a t t h e Koran preaches social equality, revolutions were launched t o remove rulers who had used capitalism and free market economy t o invite foreign investments. The famous proponent of socialism

was the

Egyptian leader Jamal abdul Nasser (1911-1970). His socialism

resulted

of foreign companies,

in t h e

nationalization

the appropriation

of

land from feudal landlords and i t s redistribution among Egyptian peasants. Although Nasser presented socialism

In secular t e r m s ,

he still relied on religious j u s t i f i c a t i o n :

Nasser was so admired that upon his death over half a dozen people committed suicide in grief.

With t h e demise of Communism, t h e appeal

of the

socialist model has been largely diminished. F3ut like secularization and modernization, socialism has n o t addressed t h e chief challenge t o Islamic society:

how to cope with the impact of the technological and industrial West whose exports to Muslim countries permeate all aspects of life: from food and bottled water, to medicines, weapons, clothes, cars, and entertainment. C a n there be an authentic Islamic society when Muslim daily needs are provided by nonMuslim producers?

In t h e l a s t q u a r t e r of t h e 2 0 t h century, t h e answer

to

above challenge increasingly

the has drawn

on... I75#

IV. The Model of the K O R A N I C STATE of MEDINA, 623-632 C . E .

The Medirían followers reject

the

secular

consequences

of

nationalism and want Islamic law t o guide t h e s t a t e . They seek t o apply Koranic rules to

women's

dress:

women should always cover

their

heads,

arms and legs; t o sex s e g r e g a t i o n : women should be separated from men a t school, a t work and in t r a n s p o r t ; t o educational curricula: emphasis should be placed on t h e s t u d y of science and theology and on the correlation

between modern discoveries

and Koranic

revelation; to punishments: flogging, amputation decapitation;

• 176

and to economic

policy.

and

•

Thus ISLAMIC B A N K I N G . The Koran

prohibited

usury {"riba"

2:275).

An alternative

form

of

was

investment

proposed society

In

Islamic

where no prior

i n t e r e s t rate was t o be fixed, b u t where t h e lender

shared

profit of an after

In the enterprise

An advertisement in Arabic from the Islamic Bank in Amman, Jordan, stating that:

" Halal

{Shari ii-approved) invest-

ment is what the Islamic Bank seeks."

i t s completion.

The Islamic organization

bank is an International consisting

of governments

financial that are

of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

part Since

initiating i t s f i r s t major project In 1975, t h e Bank has established branches

In over 3 0 Islamic countries.

177*

• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with t h e neighboring t r u c i a l s t a t e s , has pursued goal of government

the

by Koranic law.

T h e flag of the Kingdom with the Shahada "There is no deity but G o d , and Muhammad is His Prophet". T h e state is God's.

In-1947, Pakistan became a s t a t e for Muslims with a c o n s t i t u t i o n t h a t confirmed: "Steps shall be taken to enable the Muslims of Pakistan individually and collectively to order their lives in accordance with the Holy Koran and the Shari'a." In Malaysia, consciousness

of an Islamic

identity grew into political opposition among the native Malayan.

• 175

The argument precedence. chased

for the Koranic state

depends

on

•

Since alcohol cannot be legally pur-

In a Muslim state

because of Koranic

law, why should the other Koranic codes

not be

followed? One of the leading intellectuals advocating traditionalist

model Is the Sudanese

the

legal scholar

and philosopher, Or. Hasan Turabi. In his view, "Islam is the only force that can fill the vacuum left by the failures of Westerninspired socialism and nationalism.

It alone

can inspire the young and give them a vision, a sense of allegiance. "

In Jordan

and in Al-

geria, in

Azerbaijan

and in Kashmir, millions aspire t o fill t h e vacuum by bringing the political and social order underthe laws of t h e Koran. In 196>3, Turabi Introduced traditionalists

shari'a

law to Sudan;

in 1934,

prevailed in p a r t s of Lebanon; In 1991,

they won the elections

In Algeria. In 1992, ? ? ? 179^

J

In t h e p a s t two decades, t h e Islamic simplicity and equality has attracted

Muslims in countries

where: •

a non-Islamic ideology was used by a nationalist government t o unify t h e people;

•

rapid urbanization

resulted

in polarizing

t h e rich and t h e poor; •

a ruling class was supported Islamic superpowers;

by non-

•

rapid economic growth brought

the

overwhelming technology of t h e West.

T h e s e factors have g i v e n rise to a small number of militant M u s l i m s w h o c a n cope w i t h this imported culture of high technology only by fighting it.

•

100

Hostile t o t h e West for i t s colonial past, these m i l i t a n t s oppose t h e process of civilization associated with Westernization. In so doing they seem t o ignore t h e v a s t intellectual and cultural t r a d i t i o n s of Islamic history, and t o view Islam as consisting solely of political and legal precepts. For t h e m , f a i t h is law, and law is ideology. Because t h e Prophet I kept a beard, so will they; because t h e Prophet I did n o t dress in t r o u s e r s b u t in a abaya, so will they.

T h e logo of a militant group in Egypt.

Opposition t o t h e West and t o Westernization offers a sense of historical identity and t h e promise of economic autonomy.

More significant in number and impact than the militants are the revivalist movements Muslims in India, Bangladesh

among

and elsewhere t h a t

focus more on community spirituality t h a n on politics. In Nigeria, the University of Nasr al-Islam

was founded in 1961 t o f o s t e r religious education; earlier in 1 9 5 0 , the Society of Usbat ul-Deen was

founded t o i n s t r u c t Nigerian Muslim women. South of Khartoum in Sudan, there is a Khilwa (a separate community) t h a t pursues t h e Koran while cultivating

the study

of

the land.

I n 1 9 8 0 , w h i c h coincided w i t h the beginning o f the 15th H i j r a century, the first Islamic village i n the U n i t e d States was designed by the E g y p t i a n architect, H a s s a n F a t h y . Located i n A b i q u i u , N e w M e x i c o , the village serves the religious and educational needs o f over 3 0 families.

.

• 1Ô2

,......

Numerous Muslim organizations meet regularly t o examine t h e challenges facing t h e community. They offer help t o the poor and t h e displaced, send teachers to convert non-Muslims and finance medical and social facilities. Neither national, linguistic, ethnic nor social barriers affect their goals.

Ji.j•<•••• '.Hi • a ^ • J W J ' V - i ^ t — • ) J

fajkir U a - u r t M t i r i U i h h i i j I M t i AWfe (

glji*

)W

Jt-rtP « * M <

A 1992 advertisement asking for donations to support Muslim missionaries. 163*

Since the 19th-century beginnings of Western colonization, Muslims have f o u g h t t o defend their faith and land. The Koran urges spiritual and physical

RESISTANCE t o tyranny.

Imams and Sufis, men and women have defied oppression with their lives and prayers. In t h e 19£>0's and 1990's, Islam has continued t o rally t h e community against occupation. Whenever t h e cause of t h e Koran is Muslims from all nationalities

respond.

"'Drive them out from the places from which they drove you. 'Koran

declared,

2:191

...the Mujahideen fought s u c c e s s f u l l y a g a i n s t Communist occupation i n Afghanistan... ...the Muslim m i n o r i t y has s t r u g gled f o r equal r i g h t s in the Philippines and i n B u l g a r i a . . . ..-Muslims i n Kashmir a r e striving for independence...

. . . a l t h o u g h Kuwait t u r n e d t o t h e w o r l d community f o r h e l p a g a i n s t the I r a q i o c c u p a t i o n , i t s i n t e r n a l r e s i s t a n c e r a l l i e d under t h e c a l l of Islam...

. . . I s l a m i c Resistance groups are f i g h t i n g a g a i n s t I s r a e l i o c c u p a t i o n i n South Lebanon...

..some l e a d e r s i n t h e intifada have s o u g h t Koranic guidance i n the s t r u g g l e t o establish the state of P a l e s t i n e , w i t h Jerusalem as c a p i t a l . . .

The Dome of t h e Rock in Jerusalem was built between 6&&-63Z

C.E.

has been the target

Jerusalem of non-

Muslims since the Crusaders captured

the c i t y in t h e 11th

century C.E. The Crusaders were later expelled.

-.s Jerusalem a. n al-Quds Jerusalen s Jerusalem al-Quds J e t :rusalem al-Quds Jerusal? l-Quds Jerusalem a l - Q u d i dem al-Quds Jerusalem at* £-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusat rusalem al-Quds Jerusalem aJ.-jOuds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusa Quds Jerusalem atjjUffol/ftpfpn al-Quds Jerusalem al-Qu em ^'^fJG^^sjOfSSnSXPivW-ißiSfri al-Quds Jerusalem usalem al-Quds Je m al-Quds Jerusa Jerusalem al-Qu

In 1967, Jerusalem

was again

captured

by non-Muslims.

I So do not Cose heart or he grieved, for you witt surety prevail if you are Believers.'

! al-Quds Jerusaler erusalem al-Quds erusalem al-Quds 1-Quds Jerusalem Juds Jerusalem aldem al-Quds J e m %pran 3:139 ds Jerusalem a l - Q lem al-Quds Jems erusalem al-Quds al-Quds Jerusaler 1-Quds Jerusalem :r usalem al-Quds Walem al-Quds Jeru ^uds Jerusalem al em al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem a l - Q al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem^ Is Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds :rusalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-( tuds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem uds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalej . al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jeru em al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quc rusalem al-Quds Jerusalem a l - Q al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds, pm al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds rusalem al-Quds Jerusalem i Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem uds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusj -Quds Jerusalem al-Quds j e r u sm al-Quds Jerusalem^ 1-Quds Jerusalem a l - Q d-Quds J i ~|lem al-Quds rusalem al i Jerusalem jds Jerusaf 1-Quds Jeru im al-Qut rusalem a l - Q tl-Quds J( lem al-Quds usalem al i Jerusalem Jerusalem al-Quds j e r u ids Jerusalem al-i^uds Jerusal isalem al-Quds Jerusalem a l - Q m al-Quds Jerusalem al- Quds Jerusalej Jm al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds 1-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem > Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem usalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-Quds J e n [ Quds Jerusalem al-Quds Jeru kds Jerusalem al-Quds Jerusalem al-Qu
• From Jerusalem

to Cedar

Rapids, and from Sudan to EJengladesh, Muslims seekto master

the

technological

and i n d u s t r i a l c u l t u r e of modern life and t o develop i t in a creative fashion.

•

Throughout history, Muslim men and women successfully adapted to numerous civilizations and have played a crucial role in formulating the Judaeo-Christian-Zj^mzV world view.

• 166

Today, the challenge racing Muslims is to expand this adaptability towards Westernization without departing from the Straight Path of the Koran and the Sunna.

(^uide, us in the straight path, the path of those whom Ihou hast Blessed, not of those against -whom ihou art wrathful, 9{gr of those who are astray.' %gran

1:5-7

Select Bibliography of Books in English •

REVELATION The Life of Mohammad

Haykal, Muhammad Husayn

Watt, W . Montgomery Muhammad , Muhammad

Burton, John

at Mecca

at Medina

(Oxford,

Provenance

Tradition,

and Authorship

(Cambridge,

Studies in the

of Early Hadith

Stewart, Desmond Mecca (New York, Gabrieli, Francesco Muhammad

(Oxford,

1976) 1981)

1953)

The Collection of the Quran

Juynboll, G . H . A . Muslim

(n.p.

1977)

Chronology,

(Cambridge,

1983)

1980)

and the Conquests

of Islam,

trans. Virginia Luling and Rosamund Linell (New York, 1968) Tritton, A.S.

The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim

Subjects

(London, 1970) Endress, Gerhard An Introduction to Islam,

trans. Carole

Hillenbrand (New York, 1988)

•

COMMUNITY

Michell, George, ed. Architecture

of the hlnmic

World

(London, 1978 / rep. 1987) Burckhardt, Titus An of Islam

(World of Islam Festival, 1976)

Nelson, Kristina The Art of Reciting the

Quran

(Austin, Texas, 1985) Lings, Martin

The Quranic

Art of Calligraphy

and

Illumination

(World of Islam Festival Trust, 1976) Walther, Wiebke Woman in Islam, trans. C . S . V . Salt

(London, 1981) O ' L e a r y , D e Lacy How

Greek Science Passed to the

Arabs

(London, 1949) Khalidi, T a r i f

Golden Age

Classical Arab

Islam:

(Princeton, N . J . ,

The Culture

and Heritage

of the

1985)

191

•

The Genius

of Arab

Civilization

(Cambridge, M A ,

Ullmann, Manfred Islamic Medicine Watt, W . Montgomery A History

1983)

(Edinburgh,

of Islamic

1978)

Spain

(Edinburgh, 1965) Pattern in Islamic Art

Wade, David

Arberry, A . J . Sufism: An Account

(London,

(New York,

of the Mystics

1976)

of Islam

1950)

, Introduction

to the History

Ibn Al-Arabi, Muhyiddin

of Sufism

The Turjuman

Reynold A. Nicholson (London, Blunt, Wilfrid Isfahan Abu-Lughod, Janet L .

(London, Cairo:

(London,

Al-Ashwaq,

1943)

rrans.

1978)

1966)

1001

Years of the City

Victorious

(Princeton, N . J . , 1971) The Muqaddimah,

Ibn Khaldoon

ed. N . J . Dawood

trans. Franz Rosenthal,

(Princeton, N . J . , 1969)

Clarke, Peter B .

West Africa and Islam (London,

Thubron, Colin

Istanbul

(Amsterdam,

Lord Kinross

The Ottoman

Centuries

Penzer, N . M .

The Harem

(London,

Coles, Paul

The Ottoman

(Oxford,

(New York,

Culture in the Indian

Islam in Asia

1968) Environment

(London,

1971)

(New York and Oxford,

Marsh, Clifton E . From Black Muslims

to Muslims

1987)

(Metuchen,

1984)

Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck The Muslims

Oxford,

192

(London,

1969)

Esposito, John L . , ed.

•

1977}

1966)

Gascoigne, Bamber The Great Moghuh

N.J.,

1978)

Impact on Europe

Ahmad, Aziz Studies in Islamic

1982)

1991)

of America

(New York and

•

STRAIGHT PATH The Struggle Within Islam (London,

Zakaria, Rafiq

Kimmens, Andrew C .

Islamic Politics and the Modern

1988) World

(New

York,

1991) Rodinson, Maxitne Islam and Capitalism, trans. Brian Pearce (Austin,

Texas, 1986) T i b i , Bassam

The Crisis of Modern

Islam,

trans. Judith von Sivers

(Salt

Lake City, 1988) Said, Edward

Covering Islam (New York,

Asali, K . J . Jerusalem in History

•

(New York,

1981) 1990)

GENERAL

Hirti, Philip K.

Islam and the West: A Historical

and Cultural

Survey

(London, 1962) Watt, W . Montgomery The Majesty that was Islam (London and New

York, 1974) Islam and the Arab World,

ed. Bernard Lewis (New York,

Robinson, Francis Atlas of the Islamic World

(New York,

1976) 1984)

193

•

Acknowledgements and Sources • REVELATION p.

14

Paccard, Andre

Architecture! p. 35 p. 36

Islamic

Turkoman

Loges, Werner 1980)

Traditional

Craft in

Moroccan

(France, 1980) p. 244 Tribal Rugs

(London,

p. 88

Illustration of muezzin inspired by 19th-century lithograph.

p. 46

Farouqui, I . and L . The Cultural Atlas of Islam

(Macmillan, 1986) p. 39 p. 51

Paccard, Andre

Architecture!

•

Traditional

Islamic Craft in

Moroccan

(France, 1980) p. 315

COMMUNITY

p. 72

H i t t i , Philip K .

The Origin

of the Islamic State

(New

York: Columbia Univ., 1916) pp. 186-187 p. 73

" A Special Luster" Aramco

World Magazine

(Sepr.-

Oct. 1981) pp. 2-3 p. 80

Nelson, Kristina The Art of Reciting the Our an (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985) p. 129

p. 88

Bürge, T . K .

The Bektashi

Order of Dervishes

(London. 1952) p. 96

Writing Box: "Scheherezade in Paris" Aramco Magazine

World

(Sept.- Oct. 1985) p. 26

p. 97

Illustration inspired by 13th-century miniature.

p. 100

"Deriving Pleasure from Algebra and Alchemy" Wasahlan

- Saudi Arabian

Airlines

Ahlan

(October 1983)

Vol.7, Issue 7, p. 38 p. 103

Ullmann, Manfred Islamic

Medicine

(Edinburgh, 1978) p. 19 p, 107

Scala Museum, Florence, Italy,

p. 109

Paccard, Andre

Architecture!

•

194

Traditional

Islamic Craft in

(France, 1980) p. 257

Moroccan

p. 110 p. 111

Arberry, A . J . Sufism

(London, 1950) p. 117

Brass Lamp: "Scheherezade in Paris" Aramco Magazine

World

(Sept.-Oct. 1985) p. 30

p. 112

Persian Miniatures,

X1V-XVI]

Centuries

(Moscow, 1968)

p. 113

Persian Miniatures,

X1V-XVII

Centuries

(Moscow, 1968)

p. 115 Clock: "Topkapi's Turkish Timepieces" Aramco Magazine p. 116

Aramco

World

(July- Aug. 1977) p. 10 World Magazine

(July-Aug. 1977) R e a r C o v e r .

T h e word "Allah" repeated eight times makes up this calligraphic star. p. 118 p. 119

Arab Bank Calendar

"Muslims in C h i n a - T h e History" Aramco Magazine

p. 120

Roland Michaud, Rapho, Paris World

(July- Aug. 1985) p. 14

Farouqui, I . and L . The Cultural Atlas of Islam

(Macmillan, 1986) map 25 p. 132

"Calligraphy: T h e Art of Islam- In the Name of G o d " Aramco

p. 135

World Magazine

(July-Aug. 1977)

"Djenne, Living Tradition" Aramco

p. 26

World

( N o v . - D e c . 1990) pp. 25-26 p. 136

Gibb, H . A . R . , trans. Ibn Battuta

(London, 1963)

pp. 329-330 Decorative Frieze: Paccard, Andre Traditional Craft in Moroccan

Architecture

1 (France, 1980)

p. 137

Decorative Frieze: Refer to p. 136 above

p. 142

Quoted in: Zakaria, Rafiq The Struggle Within

Islamic p. 188

Islam

(London, 1989) p. 286 p. 146

Decorative Frieze: Paccard, Andre Craft in Moroccan

Architecture

Traditional

I (France, 1980)

p. 149

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

p. 152

Decorative Frieze: Refer to p. 136 above

p. 153

p. 154

Islamic p. 327

Al-Hayat

"Muslims in the Caribbean" Aramco

World

(Nov.- Dec. 1987) p. 6 195

•