Annemarie Schimmel

7/27/2019 Annemarie Schimmel

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ISLAM

An Introduction

Annemarie SchimmelI J

State University of New York Press

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First published in U.S.A. by

State University of New or! "ress# Albany

How strange that inevery specialcase

onepraises one's own way!If Islammeans "surrender intoGod's will"

it's in Islamthatweall live anddie, 1$$% State UniversityofNewor!

Anne&arie Shi&&el: (er )sla *ine*infiihrun+

, 1$$- "hilipp e)a& /un. 0&b &2o.# Stutt+art

3ohann 4olf+an+von0oethe

All ri+htsreserved. Nopart of this publiation

&aybereproduedor trans&itted# in anyfor&

or byany &eans# without per&ission.

"rinted in the United States ofA&eria

For infor&ation# address State UniversityofNew or!"ress#

State University"la5a# Albany#N 1%%67

"rodutionby 8arilyn P Se&erad

8ar!etin+by 9heresaA. Swier5ows!i

Shi&&el# Anne&arie.

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Contents

Introduction

Arabia Before Islam

Muhammad

The Expansion of Islam

The Koran and Its Teachings

The Tradition

The Law

Theology and Philosophy

The Shia and elated Sects

Mystical Islam and Sufi Brotherhoods

Popular Piety and the !eneration of Saints

Modern "e#elopments Inside Islam

Bibliography

Index

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6 Introduction

,,'

know toomuchof Muhammad to idealizehim but toolittle

todo full justice to him."The attitude of orientalists in thepast centuryhasbeen

criticized frequently during recent decades, whether one

discovers, with dward !aid, imperialistic goals in the

works of ritish and #rench scholarsor regretsthelack of

trueunderstanding ofthe spiritual aspects of$slam.%uring

recent years, however, a considerable number of publica&

tionse'press their authors( warm sympathy for $slam and,in particular, for its mystical dimensions.Thepositive at&

titude of the !econd )atican *ouncil has contributed to

new efforts for better understanding ofamuch+maligned re&ligion.etone alsohasto take into accounte'tremely crit&

icalapproaches to early $slam, which tryto interpret early

$slamichistory andculture from new and unusualvantage

points.-n thefollowingpageswetakethetraditional view of

$slamichistory without venturinginto the vast area of so&

ciologicalorpolitical approaches.

Arabia Before Islam

!outhrabia, theArabiafelix of antiquity,hadbeen famed

for its wealth, but when Muhammad was born /0123 its

most glorious times were over. ncient polytheism had

been largelyreplaced by 4ewish and *hristian influences.

$n*entral rabia, a rather "primitive" religion was still

maintained, andthecountry boasted numeroustribalsanc&tuaries. *aves and /as is common among the !emites3

stones were regarded as sacred and filled with blessing

power,baraka.center of thestone cultwasMecca5 there,

theblackstonein thesoutheasterncornerof thea(ba wasthe goal of annual pilgrimages. !uch pilgrimages, per&

formedatspecific times, brought thewealthytradecenter

economic advantages. Trade fairs and markets wereheld

duringthe foursacred months, duringwhichfighting andkilling were prohibited, and members of all rabic clans

and tribeswould travel tothe sacred places. Thelife ofthe

rabsduring that period, which theMuslimscalljiihiLiyya,"time of ignorance," showed but little trace ofdeepreli&

gious feeling,as far asone can judgefrominscriptionsand

1


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8 IsLam: An Introduction

literature.Arabicliterature(primarily poetry) fromthelate

sixthcentury A.D. singsmainly of the virtues of the Be-douins: that is, bravery, boundless hospitality, revenge,

faithinan immutablefate, but doesnot displaymuch reli-

gious consciousness.ompared!ith the themes of heroic

life,thepurely erotic moment remainsin the bac"ground.#he !omen of the tribe used to compose threnodies for

those slainin!ar$the priests atthe sanctuaries performed

soothsayingin high%sounding rhymingprose.

&t is astounding tosee ho! highly developedtheAr-

abiclanguage already !asat thisearly time. &n itspoeticalidiom, !hich !ascommon to all tribes, it unfolded to per-

fection the finest tendencies inherent in all 'emitic lan-

guages, superseding the dialectical variants of everyday

speech. Analmost inexhaustible !ealthof !ords is com-

bined!ith an extremesyntactic brevity,and even at thatearly timethe use ofseveral distinct meters in poetry can

be seen.&nfact,theperfectionof pre%&slamic Arabicpoetry

hasrarelybeen reached by!riters atanylater pointin his-tory, andthe language, !ith itsapparently boundlesspos-

sibilities, !asperhapsthe most important and preciousher-

itage !hich &slam received from itsnative Arabic soil.o! and then in ancientArabicpoetry,hristian mo-

tifs appear:!anderingmon"s, or thelight thatshines forth

fromahermits cell.#he country !assituatedin the sphere

ofinfluence of By*an* and +ersia, both trade partners ofthe eccans, and this facilitated contacts !ith acobite,

el"ite, and estorian hristians$ butentirehristiancol-

onies!ould probably not havebeenfound intheheart ofArabia. o!ever, there !ere e!ish settlements not far

from edina$ furthermore, the "ings of 'heba had con-

verted toudaism around the year /00. 1nehears also ofsee"ers, unsatisfied !ith the dominantreligionof the Ar-

abs, !ho!ere in 2uest of a higherfaith. #hesemen!ere

called banif, and it seems that the belief in a high3od,

Allah (a term that incidentally appears else!here amongthe Arabs) formed thecenterof their religious attitude. &t

may!ell bethat their religiousinterest had been intensified

"..

ArabiaBefore&slam 9

by contacts !ith hristiansor e!s. 1ne canspeculatethat

Arabia possibly !ould have become a hristian country

duringthelate sixth toearly seventhcentury,had uham-mad not appearedon thescene.


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1

Muhammad

Muhammad was born about 570 in Mecca as a member of

the Hashim clan of the Quraish, to which most of the no-

tablesof Mecca belonged. He lost his parents early (his fa-

ther died before his birth and he was brought up by his un-

cle, !bu "alib. #i$e most of his Meccan compatriots, he

de%oted himself to trade. !fter&some successful'ourneys to

yria the youngMuhammad, called al-Amin for his reli-ability, married hi)***Q*Qy)*+,hadi'a,who washis senior

by se%eral years. he bore him se%eral children, among

whom four daughters sur%i%ed all but one predeceasedtheir father.Muhammad did not marry any other womanaslong ashadi'a wasali%e (she/a"ccfwhen/he&w/iisabout fifty

years old. "his fact certainly does not support the pre'u-dice commonly %ented in the est,where fie/was/regarded

ase1tremelysensual duetohis numerouslater marriages,

which particularly upset those whoespoused the ideal of

celibacy. .Muhammad li$ed to retire at times to meditate in a

ca%e in Mt. Hira,and when he was about forty years old,he

II

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12 Islam: An Introduction

wasovercome by visions and even more by voices . It took

himsome time to realize that it wasan angelic voice that

wasentrusting him with a divine mandate. Sura 96 of theKoran contains the first such address, iqra ' (!ead or!ecite"# and thus $oints to the groundbreaking e%$eri&

ence. Khadi'a faithfullysu$$orted her husband in the s$ir&

itual crises triggered bythese e%$eriences.he first $roclamations $reached by )uhammad are

dominated by onesinglethought* the nearing +ay of udg-

.ment. he terrible shock caused by the sudden a$$roach of

the our, the +ay of !eckoning, and the resurrection is

heralded by breathless short lines in sonorous rhymed

$rose. /lose is this our. I n a short while it will knock atthe doorand will stir u$ from heedlessness those who are

embroiled in worldly affairs and who have forgotten 0od"

hen they will have to face their ord to give account of

their sinful actions.2atural catastro$hes will announce the

+ay of udgment-earth3uakes, fires, ecli$ses-as de&

scribed in Sura 41 in unforgettable words*

5hen the sunshall be darkened,

when the stars shall be thrown down,

when the mountains shall be set moving.

when the $regnant camels shall be neglected,

when the savage beastsshall be mustered,

when the seas shall be set boiling,

when the souls shall be cou$led,when the buried infant shall be asked for whatsin she

was slain,

when the scrolls shall be unrolled.

when heavenshall be stri$$ed off.

when ell shall be set blazing,

when aradiseshall be brought nigh,

then shall a soul know what it has$roduced.(translated by 7. ,. 7rberry#

7t that hour 8srafil will blow the trum$et the dead

will be resurrected in the body and, in com$lete confusion,

will ask each other about their fate. /ertain trials have to befaced, and finally the unbelievers and sinners will be

..

)uhammad 1 3

dragged away by their feet and theirforelocks.he Koranic

descri$tionsof udgment and ell do not reach the fantastic

descri$tionsof, for e%am$le, /hristiana$ocaly$tic writing.ater $o$ular $iety,however, could nevergetenough detail

of all kinds of chastisement of terrible $ain in thefire of

stinking, hot, or dirty water of the fruits of $oisonous

trees and of varioustortures.:ut )uhammad learned that he was not only sentto

threaten and blame, but also to bring good tidings* every

$ious man who lives according to 0od;s order will enteraradisewhere rivers of milk and honeyflow in cool, fra&

grant gardens and virgin beloveds await him. 5omen and

children too $artici$ate in the $aradisial bliss. 8n its de&scri$tion of aradise, so oftenattacked by /hristian $ole&

mists because ofitssensuality, the Koran isnot much more

colorful than were the sermons on this to$ic.in the


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14 Islam:An Introduction

Lord of Doomsday must be one and the same. Thebelief in

one God, without partners and without adjunct deities,

forms the center of the revelation from an early moment

onward. Sura 112declares:

Say:God isne! Godthe "ternal: #edid notbe$et andis

notbe$otten, andno one is e%ualto #im.

This sura, which is nowadays used mainly to refute the

&hristian trinitarian do$ma, was probably first directed

a$ainst the ancient 'rabconcept of (the dau$htersof 'l)lah.( *utthe tauhid, the ac+nowled$mentof God(s unity,

was toremain theheartof slam, inwhichever wayit was

understood, and the only sin that cannot be for$iven isshirk, -associatin$ somethin$ withGod.-

The duty of human bein$s is to surrender to this

uni%ue, omnipotent God, the erciful, the &ompassionate/as#e iscalledat the be$innin$ of eachchapterofthe0o)

ran andalso at thebe$innin$ of every human activity!to

surrenderfrom thebottomofone(s heart, withone(s whole

soulandone(s entire mind. The word -slam- meansthis

complete surrender to the Divine will! and the one who

practices such surrender is a uslim /active participle

of the fourth stem of the root s.l.m., which has also theconnotation of salam, -peace-. uslims do not li+e

theterm -uhammedan,- asitsu$$estsan incorrect par)

allel to the way &hristians call themselves after &hrist.nlymembers of somelatemysticalcurrents calledthem)

selvesMuhammadi to epress theirabsolute loyaltyto the

3rophet as theirspiritualandtemporal leader.

The uslim, who reco$ni4es the ne God as both

&reatorand 5ud$e, feelsresponsibleto#im:he believes in

#isboo+s /theTorah,the3salms, the Gospels,andthe0o)

ran and in #isprophets from'dam throu$h the patriarchs.

oses, and 5esus up to uhammad, the last law$ivin$6

messen$er.7urther, he believes in God(s an$els and inthe

Last 5ud$ment,and-that $ood andevilcome e%ually fromGod.- #e tries to lead his life accordin$to the revealed

law, well awarethat God(spresence is eperienced in every

uhammad 15

placeand every time, and that there is no reallyprofane

sphere inlife. 7ulfillment of cultic duties and thepracticeofmercy andjustice are commandedside bysideinthe 0o)

ran: the ritual prayer, salat, is in almost every instance

combinedwithzakiit, the almsta. *ut the worldlin$s who

areembroiledincarin$ fortheir wealth, and who ne$lectreli$iousduties, are threatened by Divinepunishment.

uhammad sawhimself at firstas am899$er to the

'rabs: he was sent to warn them, as noprophethad been

sent to them since 'braham. #owever, only a compara)

tively small circle of adherents, mainly from the lower

classes, $athered around him. The situation did not im)prove,forthedoctrine ofthe OneSupremeGodseemedto

threaten themainsources ofincome fortheeccans,i.e.,

the fairs in honorof variousdeities and especiallythe pil)$rima$e. ith the hostility of the eccans increasin$, a

$roup of the new uslims emi$rated to 'byssinia, a &hris)

tian country. The situation$rew evenmoredifficult after

uhammad, in;1


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beautiful story," that of Joseph and his brothers and

Potiphar's wife (called Zulaikha in the later tradition), a

topic that wasto inspireinnumerablepoets in the Muslim

world. Howeer, theJewsrefused to accept thereelations

connectedto their own traditions, for these seemed not to

tally completely with the biblicalwords and to haemany

!aps. heir ob#ections led Muhammad to the coniction

that the Jews had tampered with the reelations in theirscripture. He concluded thai$only the $ersion reealed to

him contained the true and real te%t ofthese storiesand that

the faith 'preached'by him on the'basisof direct reelation

was mucholderthan that professed bytheJews and &hris

tians his was the pure faith of braham who, throu!h

*sma'il (*shmael), is the ancestor of the rabs and whois

said to haefounded the central sanctuary in Mecca, the

+a'ba. Puremonotheism, as represented for thefirst time

by braham,abanlwfio hadrefuted his ancestors' stellar

reli!ion, had been corrupted by Jews and &hristians and

should now become alie a!ain in *slam,

*n keepin! with$this perception of*slam's connection

to braham, the direction of prayer,till thentoward Jerusalem, was chan!ed to Mecca this made necessary the

con-uest of Mecca. i!ht years after his mi!ration, Mu

hammadentered his home town in triumph. /urin!these

ei!ht years a number of battles were fou!ht0 in 1adr, 234,a

small!roup ofMuslims encountereda stron!Meccanarmy

and was ictorious, while one year later the Meccans!aineda slim ictory near 5hud.hreeJewish tribeswere 6

oercomeand partially uprooted. he Meccans were dis

-uieted bythe !rowin! success oftheircompatriot, butthey

finallywere forced to let him return. He for!ae most of

those whohadworked and plotteda!ainst him,buthepre

ferred to stayin Medina.here heeentually diedafter per

formin!theritesof the pil!rima!ein 273. fter +hadi#a's

death Muhammad had married seeralwies (mainlywidows)hisfaoritewife, howeer, wasthe youn!''isha, a

mere child when he married her. He passed awayin herhouse, and herfather bu 1akr as$8iddi-, "the ery faith

fulone," became his first successor,o r'"caliph."

Muhammad 9:

he reelations that came upon Muhammad durin!

the last decade of his life are stylistically -uite different

from the earlier ones0 therhymin!proseis lessconspicuous

and the fiery eschatolo!icalthreats hae!ienway todis

cussion of cultic and institutional problems, for Muham

mad's role as arbiter andcommunity leaderre-uiredle!al

in#unctions and rules for thepoliticalandsocial structureof

thenascent community. llof life was and ispermeated by

reli!ion, and#ust as there is noclearseparationbetween thepoliticaland reli!iousaspects ofcommunal life, thereare

no truly profane acts either. ery act hastobe!in with thewords"in the name of ;od," bismillah, and must be per

formed in responsibility to ;od. he human bein! stands

immediatelybefore ;odnomediatin!priestlycaste e%ists.


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1

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I

The Expansion of Islam

Muhammad's death confronted the young community with

difficult problems. The office of prophet no longer existed,

for the revelation (Sura 33/40) had spoken of Muhammad

as the 'seal', the last of the prophets. issuccessors, khalifa,

(caliphs! inherited only the office"#fleading thecommunity

in prayer and war and $udging'accordingtotherevelation.

Thiscommunity,umma, consistsofthe believersandis, as legend attests, especially protected by its relation to

Muhammad. %or, thus it is told, at &oomsdaywhen every

body(including the sinless esus! will be exclaiming) nafsinafsi (*+ myself, + myself want to be saved-*!, Muham

mad will call) Ummati, ummati(*my community, my com

munity should be saved-*! and thus act as intercessor,

shafi', for his community, an idea that has consoled Muslims throughout thecenturies.

bu /akr, the fatherofthe 0rophet'swifec1ishaand

hisfirstsuccessor, managed to overcometherebellionsthatbrokeout soon after Muhammad's death, for the freedom

loving /edouins, who particularly disliked the +slamic

19


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tax system, tried to regain their old independence. During

Abu Bakr's short reign (63263!", the armies o# the $us%

lims reached southern &ra and alestine. )hese enterprises

can be explained *hen one remembers that in 62+so tr a%

dition has itthe rophet had sent letters to the rulers o#

Byans, &ran, and -gypt to inite them to embrace &slam.

/hortly a#ter*ards, #ir st encounters *ith the Byantines

took place. )his opened the *ay #or his successors to #ur%

ther conuests, and military success o# spectacular scope

*as achieed under Abu Bakr's successor, the stern 'mar

ibn al1hattab (63!6!!". Damascus *as conuered in

63, -gypt in 636!!, and most o# ersia bet*een 6!0'

and 6!!.

A#ter 'rnar's assassination in 6!!, '0thrnan ibn

'A##an (6!!66" success#ully continued sending out $us%

lim armies east and *est $embers o# the ancient aristo%

cratic $eccan #amily mayya no* reappeared at the polit%ical #ore#ront, although this ery #amily had been among

$uhammad's staunchest opponents. /ome o# those disa#%

#ected *ith the ne* regime rose against 'thman, *ho *as

murdered in 66 *hile reading the 1oran4 it *as he *ho

*as responsible # or the #inal redaction o# the sacred book.

'Ali the son o#$uhammad's uncle Abu )alib and husband

o# his youngest daughter 5atima, became 'thman's suc%

cessor, but had to #ight $u'a*iya, #rom the house o#

mayya. &n the battle o# /i##in, 6, $u'a*iya persuaded

'Ali to stop #ighting (though 'Ali *as about to gain ictory"and to submit himsel# to arbitration. A segment o# 'Ali's

partisans, outraged at his acceptance o# this proposal, le#t

7Ali (they are kno*n as 1hari8ites, 9seceders9"4 in 66:, a

1hari8ite assassinated 'Ali, and $u'a*iya, understandably,

took adantage o# his death.

;ith $u'a*iya begins the mayyad dynasty, *hose

rulers resided in /yria to reign in the spirit o# traditional

Arabic leadership and chialry, *hile $edina turned into

the repository o# piety *ithout political po*er. nder the

mayyads the $uslims extended their rule to the Atlanticin 6:4 they reached the borders o# Byantium, and their

armies crossed the /traits o# aid took po*er in6+0, 7Ali's

younger son ?usain, then in his late #i#ties,' tried once more

to regain po*er #or his house. A#ter all, *as he not the le%

gitimate grandson o#therophet@ ?is elder brother, ?asan,

had perished more than a decade earlier (possibly poi%

soned", although he had #or#eited his claims to the caliph%

ate. ?usain, his companions, and members o# his #amily

*ere killed in the battle o# 1erbela in southern &ra, on :0

$uharram (the #irst month o# the &slamic year". )he anni%

ersary o# his death is to this day aday o# mourning in the

/hiite *orld4 his su##ering has inspired hundreds o# pious

poets to compose moing threnodies, marthiya, especiallyin ersian and rdu. )he processions iii /hiite cities in &ran

and &ndia, *ith people #lagellating themseles, are *ellkno*n4 in &ran, regular 9passion plays9 are per#ormed. &t

, is this passion moti# *hich has shaped /hiite piety and

deeply. permeates it, and many o# the recent eents in

&ransuch as the passionate participation o# so many peo%

ple in the *ar against 9the enemies o# the #aith' 'can be

explained by this #eeling o# loyalty to?usain, the arch mar%

tyr o# &slam. ?usain's struggle against the mayyad regime

*as regarded both in high literature and popular piety as an

expression o# the $uslims' longing #or #reedom, #or liber%

ation from un8ust rulers, and, in later times (especially inBritish &ndia", #rom #oreign po*ers that oppress belieers.

At the same time a countercaliph appeared in $ecca.

'Abdullah ibn ubair, son o# a *ellkno*n companion o#

the rophet, rebelled against the mayyads, As #or &r a,

*here the party o# 'Ali, shiiat CA li, *as in any case the

strongest political #orce, ne* doctrines deeloped. &deas

appeared concerning the #uture return o# some Alids, *ho

no* *ere liing in the hidden *orld, and gre* into a

large body o# speculations in both theology and #olk piety

in the centuries to come. Again in &ra, relations bet*eenthe Arab conuerors and the mawiili (nonArabs *ho *ere

attached to an Arabic tribe as clients in order to be #ull


12/15


members of the Muslim community) grew tense, for the

mawdli understandably requested thecomplete equality of

believers, as guaranteed by theKoran.

All these different currentsformedamovement whoserepresentativesrequested the officeofcaliph for members

of Muhammad'sclan only.The propagandists ofthismove

ment very s!illfully used the pro"Alid feeling in #raq and#ran to enthrone as caliph a descendant of the$rophet's un

cle'Abbas%&(), thus deeply disappointing thepartisans ofAli'schildren.

The last *mayyad fled to Andalusia where he

founded, in &+, a !ingdom which wasto produce the fin

est flowers of Arabic culture in art and poetry. The

-panish"*mayyad !ingdom reached its culmination under

'Abdur ahman ### %(/2"(/). #t continued until /01/,wit

nessing a unique cultural cooperation between Muslims,

hristians, and ews.After /01/the country fell topieces,and 3erber groups"the Almohadsand the Almoravids

entered the #berian peninsula to rule there while the -pan

ish reconquest increased in strength year byyear.The only

!ingdom able to survive till /(2wasthat of the 3anu Ah

mar in 4ranada5 the Alhambra is the last wor! of Arabic art

in -pain.

Asfor the Abbasid rulers, they tried toprove their ad

herence to religious law more than their predecessorshad

done. More importantly, the empire they ruled was no

longer meant tobeArab, as it had been under the*mayyads, but rather wasintended to be #slamic.The transferof

the capital from 6amascus to 3aghdadin &+ openedall

doorsto$ersian cultural influence, and when thee7ternalpower of the caliphs decreased in the late ninthcentury,

Tur!ish mercenaries and warslaves (mamlflks)from en

tral Asia protected the government and finally founded

!ingdoms of their own.

3aghdad lived through itsmostsplendid period under

8arunar"ashid %&9"90(), well !nownfrom thetalesof

the Arabian :ights. *nder 8arun's second son Ma'mun%9/1"911), translations of4ree!scientific and philosoph

ical wor!sinto Arabic wereencouraged. These translations

The ;7pansion of #slam 21

influenced the development of #slamic learning and were

later transferred to ;urope, enriched byArabic contribu

tions5these wor!s, through the mediationof translatorsin

medieval -pain,helped thegrowthof;uropeanscience andmedicine.

-lightly later, princes in the border areas of the

Abbasid empire moved toward independence, ta!ing theirrealms as fiefsfrom the caliph. The founder of the$ersian-hiite dynasty of the 3uwaihids %3uyids), Mu'iatimids conquered the country, coming

from :orth Africato found airo.

#n the east, the Tur!ish sultan Mahmud of 4ha


13/15


Byzantines opened the way intoAnatoliafor theMuslims.

To thisday one can admirethe grand mosques,madrasahs,and mausoleumsbuilt by the Rum Selu!s or theirsuzerains

in rzerum, Si#as, $aiseri, and their residence, $onya.

Their realm e%tended to the southern coastal area of

Anatolia.

Much of the flourishing &slamic ci#ilization was

wiped out bythe Mongol onslaught,whichbegan in 'entralAsiain ())*, and towhich the Abbasidmpire succumbed+

thelastcaliph was !illed in ()-, and Baghdad waslargely

destroyed.&n Anatolia theRum Selu!empiredisintegrated

under Mongol pressure. ut of the numerous independent

principalities, the family of the ttomans emergedaslead/

ers, and under rhan, the second rulerof thishouse,Bursa

was conquered in (0)1. This city on the northwestern

fringeof Anatolia becamethefirstcultural centerofthena/

scent ttoman mpire. After the battle of $oso#ain 2u/gosla#ia in (0-3, large parts of the Bal!ans came under t/toman rule+ thenew capital was dirne4Adrianople5. But

when 'onstantinople, &stanbul, was conquered onMay)3,

(60, it became the heart of the mpire. 7id not the8rophet say9 "They will conquer 'onstantinople:hail to

the people and hail to the army who will do so;"

The Mongol rule, some ofwhose rulers con#erted to

&slam about (0**,ga#e new impulses to the areas of &ranand &raq, which had beenlac!inga central authority since

()-, e#en though the caliphs had long ceased wieldingreal power.alut

in Syria in ()1*. 7uring the first half oftheMamlu! reign,

until (0-), thethronewasusually hereditary,whilein thesecond period the sultan was generallyelected. Theruler

had to be amember of the classof military sla#es imported

fromsouthern Russia, the$ipcha!steppes, or the'auca/

sus+ a longandcomplicated process was required forsucha sla#e to reach higherrungs on the ladder of military hi/

erarchy.TheMamlu!rule ofgypt, Syria, andtheholy cit/

ies ofMeccaand Medina isnotablefor buildingacti#ities

ona grandscale.&tended in ((1whenthe ttoman troopsunder Selim the ?rim #anquished the gyptianarmynear

Mar 7abiq, north ofAleppo.

ttoman power thene%tended o#er the


14/15

26 Islam: Atl Introduction

i!I

I

~; ..

MughaJ Empire in the east (although Shia rulers becamemore prominent in India in the course of time). hisreligio

political situation helps e"plain certain de#elopments in the

MiddleEast and also the speciaJ role of Iran duringthe last

decades$ for the Shiite form of Islam %asne#er made the

state religion in an& other countr&.

't the time %hen the ttoman empire %ase"pandingand Iran %as becoming a Shiite countr& %hile imurs de

scendants %ere losing their grip o#ereastern Iran$ another

member of the house of imur$ *abur$ born in +arghana$

founded a po%erful empire in north%estern India. E#er

since the inroads of Mahmud of ,ha-na after the &ear ///$

Muslim 0ingdoms had follo%ed each other in the subcon

tinent$e"tending soon to eastern *engal and to the 1eccan.

*abur o#ercame the odi rulers of 1elhi in 326 to found

thed&nast& of the ,reat Mughals$ %hich continued toe"ist

for more than three centuries. *aburs son 4uma&un had tosee0 shelter at the Safa#id court of Iran$ but %asable toreturn to his homeland and had 5ust begun to consolidate it

%hen he died in an accident. It %as hisson '0bar(336

(6/3)%ho ga#e the empire its true shape. 4istolerance for$

interest in$ and cooperation %ith 4indus$ 7hristians$ and

8arseescolored at least part of Indian Islam. 4iso%n and

his descendants li#el& interest in fine arts$ especiall& architecture and miniature painting$ ga#e Islamic art ne%

impulses$

'0bars son Jahangir and his grandson$ Shah Jahanfollo%ed his tolerant attitude to a certain e"tent. Shah Ja

hans son 1ara Shi0oh is famed for hisinterest in m&sticism

and in the religious s&stems of 4induism;he undertoo0 a

8ersian translation from the Sans0rit of fift& 9panishads.

he finest architectural %or0s in northern India belong tothe earl& Mughal time$ i.e.$ the &ears bet%een 36/ and

66/$ such asthe famed a5 Mahal$the mausoleumof Shah

Jahans %ife. his glorious period ended %ith 1araShi0ohs e"ecution in 63: at the hand of his brother 'u

rang-eb$ %ho in #ain tried to e"pand the Mughal empireinto the 1eccan %here the 0ingdoms of *i5apur and ,ol

conda boasted a refined Islamic cultural life and %ere seats

.

heE"pansionof Islam 2

of literatureand fine arts for more than t%o centuries. 'urang-eb died$ aged nearl& ninet&$ in /.he %ea0ened

empire became a to& for different Indian factions andas

sorted in#aders< the 8ersian 0ing =adir Shah plundered

1elhi in >:and the 'fghan leader 'hmadShah 1urrani

led militar& e"peditionsagainst north%est India.he polit

ical a%a0ening of the 4indus(especiall& the Mahrattas)and

theSi0hs and$ morethan an&thing else$ the increasing e"

pansion of the *ritish East India 7ompan& from 3 re

sulted finall& in thepolitical brea0do%n of the last #estiges

of the Mughal empire. 'fter the aborti#e militar& re#olt$thesocalled Mutin&$ in ?3$ the*ritish 7ro%n too0 o#er

India %ith the e"ception of the princel& states; thelast Mughal emperor died in @angoon in e"ile.

Islam continued to spread in the Indianand Indone

sian areas e#en in times of political deca&;no%ada&salmost

halfof the%orlds Muslims li#e in thispart of the%orld.hefirst modernist mo#ements in the nineteenth centur&

began from the Indiansubcontinent inorder to help Mus

lims to adapt toor to resistmodern lif e as the& ob

ser#ed it in the acti#ities of their colonial masters. nemust not forget thestrong$ #er& acti#e groups ofMuslims

in 7entral 'sia and 7hina$ and thesteadil& gro%ingpres

enceof Islam in East and Aest 'frica. he gro%ing number

of Muslims in the Aestern %orld should also bementioned.

+rom the late se#enteenth centur&$ a certain stagna

tion among Muslims can beobser#ed asa result of political%ea0ness and the loss of man& important areas after the

opening of the sea passage to India and therapid gro%th of

European po%er. 4o%e#er$ in the eighteenth centur&a

time usuall&neglectedb& orientalistsgerms ofne% inter

pretations of the Boran and of Islam as %ell as first

attempts at selfidentification #isa#is the Aest become

#isiblein different parts of the Islamic%orld. In the nineteenth centur&$ some Islamic peoples reacheda moreout

spo0enformof selfassertion and attempted todefinetheir

role as Muslimsin a changing %orld. 'fter Aorld Aar I$nationalism$ inoculated intothe =ear and Middle East b&

Europeans$ appears %ith full strength. hedi#ision of the


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Middle Eastafter that war,in theattempt to dismember the

Ottoman Empire, helped the growth of nationalism. A

number of independent states were formed whose namesmayor may not include references to Islam. The gamut,

withchanging emphasis, runsfrom the IslamicRepublicof

Pakistan to Turkey,which claims absolute laicism as thefoundation of its constitution, een though manypeople

still feel they are perfectly faithful Muslims. Those who

know the Turkish mentality are not surprised that latelysome fundamentalist moements are appearing in Turkey

as in othercountries. The tension between laicalandfun!

damentalist attitudes is probably more isible there than

elsewhere.

. . " # I . I Ii .. .

The Koran and

Its Teachings

The foundation of Islam is the $oran tqur'iin, %recita!

tion%& which is, for the pious Muslim, not the word of a

prophet buttheunadulterated wordof 'od, which hasbe!

come audible through Muhammad, the pure essel, in

%clear Arabiclanguage.% Thus, (uotations from the$oranare introduced bythe words qala ta(iild, %)e#Eleated is

)e#says% or similar formulas. The primordial $oran,

whiche*istsin heaen ona %well#presered tablet,% man!

ifesteditself in this book which %only the purified% are

permittedto touch and torecite. Torecitethe$oran isthe

mostsublime andedifying occupationfor the Muslim, een

when he or she doesnotintellectuallyunderstandits words,

asis the case with most non#Arabbelieers.+incethe $o!

ran istheiine -ordparexcellence, Muslims considerit

inconceiable to %translate% it intoany language. Atrans!lation is only an e*planation of the books meaning, one

interpretationamong others. That iswhy amodernEnglish

29

Annemarie Schimmel

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