1. ISBN: 0674013859Author: Malise Ruthven, Azim NanjiPublisher:
Harvard University Press (May 28, 2004)Pages: 208 Binding:
Hardcover w/ dust jacket Description from the publisher: Among the
great civilizations of the world, Islam remains an enigma to
Western readers. Now, in a beautifully illustrated historical
atlas, noted scholar of religion Malise Ruthven recounts the
fascinating and important history of the Islamic world. From the
birth of the prophet Muhammed to the independence of post-Soviet
Muslim states in Central Asia, this accessible and informative
atlas explains the historical evolution of Islamic societies. Short
essays cover a wide variety ofthemes, including the central roles
played by sharia (divine law) and fiqh (jurisprudence); philosophy;
arts andarchitecture; the Muslim city; trade, commerce, and
manufacturing; marriage and family life; tribal
distributions;kinship and dynastic power; ritual and devotional
practices; Sufism; modernist and reformist trends; the
Europeandomination of the Islamic world; the rise of the modern
national state; oil exports and arms imports; and Muslimpopulations
in non-Muslim countries, including the United States.Lucid and
inviting full-color maps chronicle the changing internal and
external boundaries of the Islamic world,showing the principal
trade routes through which goods, ideas, and customs spread.
Ruthven traces the impact ofvarious Islamic dynasties in art and
architecture and shows the distribution of sects and religious
minorities, thestructure of Islamic cities, and the distribution of
resources. Among the books valuable contributions is
theincorporation of the often neglected geographical and
environmental factors, from the Fertile Crescent to theNorth
African desert, that have helped shape Islamic history.Rich in
narrative and visual detail that illuminates the story of Islamic
civilization, this timely atlas is anindispensable resource to
anyone interested in world history and religion.About the Author
--Malise Ruthven is a former editor with the BBC Arabic Service and
World Service in London and is the author ofIslam in the World and
Islam: A Very Short Introduction. Azim Nanji is Professor and
Director of the Institute ofIsmaili Studies and visiting professor
at Stanford University.
2. HISTORICALATLAS OF THEISLAMICWORLD
3. HISTORICALATLAS OF THEISLAMICWORLD Malise Ruthvenwith Azim
Nanji
4. Book Copyright Cartographica Limited 2004Text Copyright
Malise Ruthven 2004 All rights reserved. Historical Atlas of the
Islamic WorldeBook versionPublished by CartographicaOriginally
published in print format in 2004.In this informative and
beautifully illustrated atlas, notedscholar of religion Malise
Ruthven recounts the fascinatingand important history of the
Islamic world.Short and concise essays cover a wide variety of
themesincluding philosophy; arts and architecture; the Muslim
city;trade, commerce and manufacturing; marriage and familylife;
ritual and devotional practices; the rise of the modernnational
state; oil exports and arms imports; and much more.Rich in
narrative and visual detail, the Atlas is of criticalimportance to
both students and anyone seeking insight intothe Islamic world,
history and culture. q Published/Released: October 2005 q ISBN 13:
9780955006616 q ISBN 10: 0955006619 q Product number: 225062 q Page
count: 208 pp.
5. CONTENTSIntroduction 6 Balkans, Cyprus, and Crete 15002000
118Foundational Beliefs and Practices14 Muslim Minorities in China
122Geophysical Map of the Muslim World 16 The Levant 15002002
124Muslim Languages and Ethnic Groups20 Prominent Travelers128Late
Antiquity Before Islam 24 Britain in Egypt and Sudan in the 19th
Century 132Muhammads Mission and Campaigns26 France in North and
West Africa136Expansion of Islam to 750 28 Growth of the Hajj and
Other Places of Pilgrimage138Expansion 751170030 Expanding Cities
142Sunnis, Shiites, and Khariji 660c. 100034 Impact of Oil in the
20th Century146Abbasid Caliphate under Harun al-Rashid 36 Water
Resources148Spread of Islam, Islamic Law, and Arabic Language 38
The Arms Trade 150Successor States to 110040 Flashpoint Southeast
Asia 19502000152The Saljuq Era44 Flashpoint Iraq
19172003154Military Recruitment 9001800 46 Afghanistan
18402002156Fatimid Empire 9091171 50 Arabia and the Gulf
18391950158Trade Routes c. 700150052 Rise of the Saudi
State160Crusader Kingdoms 56 Flashpoint IsraelPalestine162Sufi
Orders 11001900 58 Flashpoint Gulf 19502003164Ayyubids and
Mamluks62 Muslims in Western Europe166The Mongol Invasion 64
Muslims in North America 168Maghreb and Spain 650148566 Mosques and
Places of Worship in North America 170Subsaharan AfricaEast70
Islamic Arts 172Subsaharan AfricaWest 72Major Islamic Architectural
Sites176Jihad States74 World Distribution of Muslims 2000 180The
Indian Ocean to 149976 World Terrorism 2003 184The Indian Ocean
1500190080 Muslim Cinema188Rise of the Ottomans to 165084 Internet
Use 190The Ottoman Empire 1650192088 Democracy, Censorship, Human
Rights, and Civil Society 192Iran 1500200092 Modern Islamic
Movements 194Central Asia to 170094 Chronology 196India
711197196Russian Expansion in Transcaucasia and Central Asia102
Glossary 200Expansion of Islam in Southeast Asia c.
15001800106British, French, Dutch, and Russian Empires108 Further
Reading203Nineteenth-Century Reform Movements110 Acknowledgments
and Map List 204Modernization of Turkey112The Muslim World under
Colonial Domination c. 1920 116 Index205
6. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLDIntroduction Since
September 11th 2001, barely a day pas-nations: Nairobi, Dar es
Salaam, Mombasa, ses without stories about Islamthe religionRiyadh,
Casablanca, Bali, Tunisia, Jakarta, of about one-fifth of
humanityappearing in Bombay (Mumbhai), Istanbul and Madrid. the
media. The terrorists who hijacked four The list grows longer, the
casualties mount. American airliners and flew them into the The
responses of people and their govern- World Trade Center in New
York and thements are angry and perplexed. The far-reach- Pentagon
near Washington killed some threeing consequences of these
responses for inter- thousand people. This unleashed a War on
national peace and security should be enough Terrorism by the
United States and its allies, to convince anyone (and not just the
media edi- leading to the removal of two Muslim govern-tors who
mold public consciousness to fit their ments, one in Afghanistan
and the other inadvertisers priorities) that extreme manifesta-
Iraq. It raised the profile of Islam throughout tions of Islam are
setting the agenda for argu- the world as a subject for analysis
and discus- ment and action in the twenty-first century . sion. The
debates, in newspaper columns andMuslims living in the West and in
the broadcasting studios, in cafes, bars, and growing areas of the
Muslim world that come homes, have been heated and passionate.
within the Wests electronic footprint under- Questions that were
previously discussed in standably resent the negative exposure that
the rarified atmosphere of academic confer- comes with the
increasing concerns of out- ences or graduate seminars have entered
the siders. Islam is a religion of peace: the word mainstream of
public consciousness. What is Islam, a verbal noun meaning
submission the law of jihad? How is it that a religion of peace
subscribed to by millions of ordi- JAZIRA RASLANDAQarnqi JAZIRA
LUQAGHAJAZIRAJ. SQUSIYYA nary, decent believers, can become an
ideology IRLANDA Aghrims JAZIRATDANMARSHA JAZIRAT of hatred for an
angry minority? Why hasJazira Dans INQILTARAGharkafurtBILAD Islam
after the fall of communism become so Hastinks
LondrasBALUNIYYAShant Mahlu NaDiaba freighted with passionate
intensity? Or, to useJol Sin hruARD AFRIZIYYA ALAMANIN Na h r Danu
Abariz Qaghradun the title of a best-selling essay by Bernard
Faynash Shant ARD AFLANDRIS AL AFRANJNa h Drawr a BILAD
BUAMIYYAMajial Lewis, the doyen of Orientalist scholars,Kh
aJanbaraKradisK al- ltjha What went wrong? with Islamic history,
AnLiyun l ij Shant Yaaqub al- glis AnkunaBa hinBurdalRaghusa nad
with its relationship with itself, and with the Nabaliqa Bisha
Manubas Munt MayurShaghubiyya Mashiliyya modern world?TarakunaJ.
al-Nar Labiuna MessinaKashtaraSuch questions are no longer
academic, but Qartajanna J. Qurshiqa Barsana al-Mariyya J.
Sardaniyya J. Siqilliyya are arguably of vital concern to most of
theJalfuniyya Jazair bani peoples living on this planet. Few would
deny Mazjani LebdaFas that Islam, or some variation
thereofTarabulusSurt l Da ran Barqa whether distorted, perverted,
corrupted, or J aba Jabal Daran hijacked by extremistshas become a
force toMastihJabal Tantana be reckoned with, or at least a label
attached to Jabal Ghaghara ARD Nebranta a phenomenon with menacing
potentialities. KAMNURIYYAal L uni a al-QasabaJab Numerous
atrocities have been attributed toJabal Banbuan ARD GHANA Nil a
l-SudanTakrur Kuku and claimed by Islamic extremists, both
beforeGhana and since 9/11, causing mayhem and carnage in many of
the worlds cities and tourist desti-6
7. INTRODUCTION (to God) is etymologically related to the word
emies, are accused of viewing Islam through salaam, meaning peace.
The standard greet- the misshapen lens of Orientalism, a disci- ing
most Muslims use when joining a gather-pline corrupted by its
associations with impe- ing or meeting strangers is as-salaam
rialism, when specialist knowledge was alaikumPeace be upon you.
Westerners placed at the service of power. who accuse Islam of
being a violent religionThis is fraught, contested territory and
misunderstand its nature. Attaching the labelwriters who venture
into it do so at their own Muslim or Islamic to acts of terrorism
isperil. As with other religious traditions, every grossly unfair.
When a right-wing Christiangeneralization about Islam is open to
chal- fanatic like Timothy McVeigh blew up a USlenge, because for
every normative descrip- federal building in Oklahoma city, the
worst tion of Islamic faith, belief, and practice, atrocity
committed on American soil before there exist important variants
and consider- 9/11, no one described him as a Christianable
diversity. The problem of definition is terrorist. In the view of
many of Islamsmade more difficult because there is no over-
adherents, Westerners who have aban- arching ecclesiastical
institution, no Islamic doned their own faith, or are blinkered by
papacy, with prescriptive power to decree religious prejudice, do
not understand what is and what is not Islamic. (Even Islam.
Certain hostile media distort Western Protestant churches define
their religious viewpoints, prejudicing sentiments and atti-
positions in contradistinction to Roman tudes with Islamophobiathe
equivalent ofCatholicism.) anti-Semitism applied to Muslims instead
of Being Muslim, like being a Jew, embraces The world according
Jews. Some scholars, trained in Western acad-ancestry as well as
belief. People described asto al-Idrisi 5491154 Arda Truiyyal-
TabuntARD LASLANDA Buhayrat JanunSinubun KuJANUB BILADma niyN ah s
i AL-RUSIYYA brya na rA a Nahr Dnas t.Dmi MajujKaw N Labada l ?
Quruqiyya Khagan Majui Shahadruj Jabal SuAdkash Rushiyyan?? ARD
MAJUJBasjirt?Bahr Nitasal-Dakhila FilibusArsanHiraqliyya
Askisiyyaal-QostantinoAtrabezundaSamandarBahrJabal Mazrar Ard
BuhayratGhargunMaqaduniyya Abidus al-Khazar Jajun ARDun
SalanikQashtamuni r Kharba Akhrida Ladikiyya TiflisJ.
KarkuniyyagaYAJUJ AsDahistanBuhayratal
BuhayratQuniyyaArdabilKhwarazem Jab Jabal Janf Tehamal LalanNah
Tabriz NahrShaJaba Amulr als Nahrh al-Mawsil l AshlathFra RudusJaba
?? D y l Arkadiyya al- Sha ARD AL-KIMAKIYYAi??? m ?IskandarunaTus
MIN AL-ATRAKalF arga Jazira QumhJ. Iqritish AntakiyyaSisian an
Qibris Bukhara BuhayratBaghdad Jujaral-DimyatDimashuSarakhs
NashranIskandariyya AbadanYazdHaratBILAD
AL-TIBETKhirkhirJaziraal-Taghlibiyya MIN AL-ATRAK Qulzum al Yakut
LakaBuhayratKhaybarBazwan JabWakhan Yathribal Aal-Multan la
qaKashmir al-Kharija lul ttam l Ja Suhar Qandahar AQSA BILAD Baja
Makka aJab Asyut AL-HIND SinisAydhabTabala Kanbaya Lulua BILAD Sur
Daybul KatiguraJazira Aurshin AL-SIN M isr Ba ARD AL-ABADIYA
JaziraKhanfunSaala baN ilSandan l- M NUBIA MINan MIN
AL-YAMANJaziraJazira Manquna daJazira al-MandKulom Makal-Romi
AL-SUDAN b Adan Jazira al-J. SuqutraQotsoba al-Gharb Jazira
SarandibJazira al-QamrDonqola Aqent MalotJazira al-SilaJazira
Sarandib ARD SUFALAARD AL-ZANJ AL-NABR ARD AL-WAQWAQJ ab 7 a l a l-
K a m r
8. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD Muslims are
religiously observant in differentone of his companions, Abu Bakr
(r. 624632), ways. One can be culturally Muslim, as onewho was
accepted as Caliph or successor by can be culturally Jewish,
without subscribing agreement of the main leaders in the communi-
to a particular set of religious prescriptionsty after the death of
the Prophet. He, in turn, or beliefs. It would not be inappropriate
toappointed Umar (r. 634644), who on his describe many nonreligious
Americans anddeathbed designated Uthman (r. 644656), after
Europeans as cultural Christians given theconsultation with leading
Muslims. Uthman seminal importance played by Christianity inwas
succeeded by Ali (r. 656661), again with the development of Western
culture. The factthe consent of leading Muslims of the time. In
that the term is rarely, if ever, used is reveal- the view of the
Sunni majority the four caliphs ing of Western cultural hegemony
and itsconstitute a rightly guided Caliphate. pretensions to
universality. The Christian Over time the Shiites and Sunni both
devel- underpinning of Western culture is so taken oped distinctive
community identities. They for granted that no one troubles to make
it are divided into various branches and organ- apparent. At the
same time the term ized into different movements and tendencies.
Christian has been appropriated byWhile these, and other groups,
differed with Protestant fundamentalists who seek toeach other and
often fought over their differ- define themselves in
contradistinction to sec-ences, the general tenor of relations, in
pre- ular humanists or religious believers withmodern urban
societies, allowed for a degree whose outlook they disagree.of
mutual coexistence and intellectual debate.Similar problems of
definition apply in the In recent times, however, there has been a
Muslim world. Just as there are theological tendency for extremist
sects and radical disagreements between Christian churchesgroups to
anathematize their religious oppo- over all sorts of questions of
belief and ritu- nents, or to declare those ruling over them to al,
within the Islamic fold there are groupsbe outside the pale of
Islam. This narrow which differ among themselves ritualistically
perspective may be contrasted with a growing or in terms of their
respective tradition ofawareness among the majority of Muslim
interpretation and practice.people of the diversity and plurality
of inter-Among the major groups in Islam, histor- pretations within
the Umma. ically, the two most significant are the Sunni Currently,
the climate of religious intoler- and Shiites.ance manifested in
some parts of the MuslimThe Shiites maintain that, shortly
beforeworld has complex origins and may be symp- his death, the
Prophet Muhammad (c. tomatic, like the puritan extremism that
570632 ) designated Ali, his first cousin andflourished in Europe
in the seventeenth cen- husband of his daughter Fatima, as his
succes-tury, of the dislocating effects of economic sor. They
further believe that this successionand social changes. As the maps
and essays continued in a line of Imams (spiritual lead- that
follow make clear, modernity came to ers) descendent from Ali and
Fatima, each the Muslim world on the wings of colonial specifically
designated by the previous Imam. power, rather than as a
consequence of inter- The larger body of the Shiites, the
Twelversnally generated transformations. The best or Imamis,
believe that the last of these lead- community decreed by God for
ordering ers, who disappeared in 873, will reappearthe good and
forbidding the evil has lost the as the Mahdi or messiah at some
future time.moral and political hegemony it held in whatThe Sunnis,
on the other hand, maintain that was once the most civilized part
of the world the Prophet had made an indication favoring outside
China. When Islam was in the ascen-8
9. INTRODUCTIONdant, so was the climate of tolerance it detail.
The story of Muhammads career asengendered. Muslim scholars and
theolo-Prophet and Statesman (if one can use agians polemicized
against each other but rather modern term for the leader of thewere
careful not to denounce those who movement that united the tribes
of theaffirmed the shahadathe declaration ofArabian Peninsula) was
constructed from afaithand who prayed toward Mecca. As thedifferent
body of oral materials. Known asAmerican scholar Carl Ernst
observes, InHadith (traditions or reports about theany society in
the world today, religious plu- Prophets behavior), they acquired
writtenralism is a sociological fact. If one groupform after
Muhammads death.claims authority over all the rest, demanding The
Koran is divided into 114 sectionstheir allegiance and submission,
this will beknown as suras (rows), each of which is com-experienced
as the imposition of power posed of varying numbers of verses
calledthrough religious rhetoric. [Carl Ernst,ayas (signs or
miracles). Apart from the firstFollowing Muhammad: Rethinking Islam
insura, the Fatiha, or Opening, a seven-versethe Contemporary
World, London and invocation used as a prayer in numerous
ritu-Chapel Hill, p. 206.]als, including daily prayers or salat,
the suras In principle, if not always in practice, aare arranged in
approximate order ofMuslim is one who follows Islam, an Arabic
decreasing length, with the shortest at theword meaning submission
or, more pre-end and the longest near the beginning. Mostcisely,
self-surrender to the will of God as standard editions divide the
suras into pas-revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Thesesages
revealed in Mecca (which tend to berevelations, delivered orally
over the periodshorter, and hence located near the end ofof
Muhammads active prophetic career from the book) and those
belonging to the periodabout 610 until his death, are contained
inof the Prophets sojourn in Medina, where hethe Koran, the
scripture that stands at theemigrated with his earliest followers
tofoundation of the Islamic religion and the escape persecution in
Mecca in 622, the Yeardiverse cultural systems that flow from it.
AOne of the Muslim era. Meccan passages,few revisionist scholars
working in Westernespecially the early ones, convey vivid
mes-universities have challenged the traditional sages about
personal accountability, rewardIslamic account of the Korans
origins, argu-and punishmentin heaven and hellwhileing that the
text was constructed out of a celebrating the glories and beauty of
the nat-larger body of oral materials following theural world as
proof of Gods creative powerArab conquest of the Fertile Crescent.
The and sovereignty. The Medinese passages,great majority of
scholars, however, Muslimwhile replicating many of the same
themes,and non-Muslim, regard the Koran as thecontain positive
teachings on social and legalwritten record of the revelations
accumulat- issues (including rules governing sexual rela-ed in the
course of Muhammads career. tions and inheritance, and punishments
pre-Unlike the Bible, there are no signs of multi- scribed for
certain categories of crime). Suchple authorship. In contrast to
the New passages, supplemented with material fromTestament in
particular, where the sayings ofthe Hadith literature, came to be
the keyJesus have been incorporated into four dis-sources for the
development of a legal systemtinct narratives of his life presumed
to haveknown as the Sharia. Different scholars ofbeen written by
different authors, the Koran Muslim thought added other sources to
cre-contains many allusions to events in the ate a methodology for
the systematizationProphets life, but does not spell them out in
and implementation of the Sharia. 9
10. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLDFor believing Muslims,
the Koran is the Islam beyond Arabia occurred on the basis of
direct speech of God, dictated without human the Arab conquest of
the Fertile Crescent and editing. Muhammad has been described
bylands further afield in the century or so fol- some modern Muslim
scholars as a passive lowing the Prophets death in 632. Faith in
transmitter of the Divine Word. The ProphetIslam and the Prophets
divine callingas himself is supposed to have been ummi
(illiter-well as the desire for bootyunited the ate), although some
scholars question this as he Arabian tribes into a formidable
fighting was an active and successful merchant. For a machine. They
defeated both the Byzantine majority of Muslims, the Koran, whose
text and Sasanian armies, opening part of the was written down and
stabilized during the Byzantine Empire and the whole of Persia to
reign of the third caliph, Uthman (r. 644656),Muslim conquest and
settlement. At first was uncreated and coeternal with God.Islam
remained primarily the religion of the Hence, for believing
Muslims, the Koran occu-Arab. Muslim commanders housed their pies
the position Christ has for Christians. God tribal battalions in
separate military canton- reveals himself not through a person,
butments outside the cities they conquered, leav-The illuminated
double pagefrom the Koran in the Bihariscript. This copy was
completed in 1399, the year after Timursconquest of Delhi. The
passage, from the Al-Tawba (Sura of Repentance), refers to
theProphets Bedouin allies who are not to be excused for failing
tojoin one of his campaigns. through the language contained in a
holy text. ing their new subjects (Christian, Jewish, or Other
religious traditions, including Buddhism,Zoroastrian) to regulate
their own affairs so Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism,
andlong as they paid the jizya (poll-tax) in lieu of
Zoroastrianism, privilege their foundational military service. The
process of Islamization texts as sacred. Muslim rulers recognized
this occurred gradually, through marriage, as the common principle
by granting religious tolera- leading families of the subject
populations tion to the ahl al-kitab (Peoples of the Book).sought
to join the Muslim elites. It alsoIn its initial phase the rapid
expansion of occurred as impoverished or uprooted sub-10
11. INTRODUCTIONjects found support in the religion of their
patterns of state and religious authority thatrulers, or as people
disenchanted with their prevailed during the vast sweep of
Islamicformer rulers found a congenial spiritualhistory from the
time of the Prophet to thehome in one that honored their
traditionspresent. But it is hoped that they will illumi-while
representing their teachings in a new, nate important aspects of
that history bycreative synthesis. The role of early Muslim opening
windows into significant areas ofmissionaries was also crucial in
this process. the distant and recent past, thereby helping Muslim
theology, however, did have oneto explain the legacy of conflictsas
well asdynamic cultural dimension, which may help opportunitiesthe
past has bequeathed toto explain its evolution of an Arab religion
the present. Geography is vital for the under-into a universal
faith. As the quintessentialstanding of Islamic history and its
problem-religion of the Book, which represented theatic
relationship with modernity.divine Word as manifested in a written
text,As the maps in this atlas illustrate, the cen-Islam carried
with it the prestige of learning tral belt of Islamic territories
stretching from A world map drawn in 157172and literacy into
illiterate cultures. The cult of the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus
Valley was by the al-Sharafi al-Sifaqsi familythe book, like La
Rochefoucaulds definition perennially at the mercy of nomadic or
semi- in the town of Sfax, Tunisia.of hypocrisy, was the homage not
of vice tonomadic invaders. In premodern times,virtue, but of
illiteracy to learning. However before gunpowder weapons,
airrevelation is perceivedwhether proceeding power, and modern
systems ofdirectly from God or by way of an alteredcommunication
broughtmental state comparable to the operations of peripheral
regions underhuman geniusMuhammads epiphany camethe control of
centralin the form of language. Time and again thegovernments
(usuallynomadic peoples on the fringes of the Muslim under colonial
aus-empires would take over the centers of power,pices), the cities
wereand in so doing civilize themselves, becomingvulnerable to
attackin turn the bearers of Muslim cultural pres- by nomadic
preda-tige. After the disintegration of the greattors. The genius
ofAbbasid Empire, the dream of a universal the Islamic
systemcaliphate embracing the whole of the Islamic lay in providing
theworld (and, indeed, the rest of humanity)converted
tribesmenceased to be a viable project. The lines of com- with a
system of law,munication were too long for the center to bepractice
and learning withinable to suppress the ambitions of locala
foundation of faith to whichdynasts. But the prestige of literacy,
symbol- they became acculturated over time.ized by the Koran and
its glorious calligraphic In his Muqaddima, or Proglomena
toelaborations on the walls of mosques and the History of the
World, the Arab philoso-other public buildings, as well as in the
metic- pher of history Ibn Khaldun (13321406)ulously copied
versions of the book itself, wasdeveloped a theory of cyclic
renewal and statepowerful. Even Mongol invaders,
notoriousformation, which analyzed this process in thefor their
cruelty, would succumb to the spiri- context of his native North
Africa. Accordingtual and aesthetic power of Islam in the west- to
his theory, in the arid zones where rainfall isern part of their
dominions. sparse, pastoralism remains the principal The maps in
this book do not aim to pro-mode of agricultural production. Unlike
peas-vide a comprehensive account of the shifting ants,
pastoralists are organized along tribal 11
12. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD lines (patrilineal
kinship groups). They are rel- a common or corporative asabiyya.
The atively free from government control. Enjoyingabsence of
bourgeois solidarity, in which the greater mobility than urban
people, they can- corporate group interests of the burghers not be
regularly taxed. Nor can they be transcend the bonds of kinship,
may partly brought under the control of feudal lords who be traced
to the operations of Muslim law. will appropriate a part of their
produce in Unlike the Roman legal tradition, the Sharia return for
extending protection. Indeed, in the contains no provision for the
recognition of arid lands it is the tribesmen who are
usuallycorporate groups as fictive persons. armed, and who, at
times, can hold the city to In its classic formulation, Ibn
Khalduns ransom, or conquer it. Ibn Khalduns insights theory
applied to the North African milieu tell us why it is usually
inappropriate to speakhe knew and understood best. But it serves as
of Muslim feudalism, except in the strictly an explanatory model
for the wider history limited context of the great river valley
systems of Western Asia and North Africa, from the of Egypt and
Mesopotamia, where a settled coming of Islam to the present. The
theory is peasantry farmed the land. In the arid regions, based on
the dialectical interraction between pastoralists move their flocks
seasonally acrossreligion and asabiyya. Ibn Khalduns concept the
land according to complex arrangementsof asabiyya, which is central
to his outlook with other users. Usufruct is not ownership.on
Muslim social and political history, can be Property and territory
are not coterminous, asmade to mesh with modern theories of eth-
they became in the high rainfall regions of nicity, whether one
adopts a primordial or Europe. Here feudalism and its offshoot,
capi-interactive model. The key to Ibn talism, took root and
eventually created theKhalduns theory may be found in two of his
bourgeois state that would dominate the coun- propositions singled
out by the anthropolo- tryside, commercializing agriculture and
sub- gist and philosopher Ernest Gellner: (1) jecting rural society
to urban values and con-Leadership exists only through superiority,
trol. In most parts of Western Asia and North and superiority only
through group feeling Africa, in contrast, the peoples at the
margins (asabiyya) and (2) Only tribes held togeth- continued to
elude state control until the com- er by group feeling can live in
the desert. ing of air power. Even now the process is farThe
superior power of the tribes vis--vis from complete in places such
as Afghanistan,the cities provided the conditions under which where
tribal structures have resisted the dynastic military government
and its variants, authority of the central government.royal
government underpinned by mamlukism Urban Moroccans had a revealing
term foror institutionalized asabiyya, became the the tribal
regions of their country: bled al- norm in Islamic history prior to
the European sibathe land of insolenceas contrastedcolonial
intervention. The absence of the legal with bled al-makhzen, the
civilized center, recognition of corporative bodies in Islamic
which periodically falls prey to it. The supe-law prevented the
artificial solidarity of the riority of the tribes, in Ibn Khalduns
theory, corporation, a prerequisite for urban capitalist depends on
asabiyya, a term which is usuallydevelopment, from transcending the
natural translates as group feeling or social solidari-
solidarities of kinship. In precolonial times the ty. This asabiyya
derives ultimately from the high cultural traditions of Islam
constantly harsher environment of the desert or arid interacted
with these primordial solidarities lands, where there is little
division of labor, or ethnicities: they did not replace them. and
humans depend for their survival on theFormally the ethic of Islam
is opposed to bonds of kinship. City life, by contrast, lacks local
solidarities, which privilege some12
13. INTRODUCTIONbelievers above others. In theory there
existseleventh centuries was far ahead of itsa single Muslim
communitythe umma Christian competitor eventually fell behind,under
the sovereignty of God. In practice thisto find itself under the
political and culturalideal was often modified by recognition
ofdominance of people it regardedand whichthe need to enlist
asabiyya or tribal ethnicity some of its members still do regardas
infi-in the path of God. Islamic practice stress-dels.es
communitarian values through regularThe Islamic system of
precolonial times,prayer, pilgrimage, and other devotionalembedded
in the memory of contemporarypractices, and given time, generates
the urbanMuslims, was brilliantly adapted to the
polit-scripturalist piety of the high cultural or ical ecology of
its era. Even if the strategy ofgreat tradition. But it does not of
itselfwaging jihad in the path of God wereforge a permanent
congregational communi- adopted for pragmatic or military
reasons,ty strong enough to transcend the counter-Islamic faith and
culture were the beneficiar-vailing dynamic of local ethnicities.
Be they ies. The nomad conquerors and Mamlukssecularbased on
differences of tribe, vil- (soldier-slaves), imported from
peripherallage, or even craftor sectarian religious regions to keep
them at bay, became Islamsbased on divisions between different mad-
foremost champions, defenders of the faith-habs (schools of
jurisprudence), or the mysti-community and patrons of its cultures
andcal Sufi orders which are often controlled by systems of
learning.family lineages, or the differences betweenThe social
memory of this system exercisesSunnis and Shiitessuch divisions
militatea powerful appeal over the imaginations ofagainst the
solidarity of the Umma. many young Muslims at this time. This is
espe- Like the Baptist movement in the Unitedcially true when the
more recent memory ofStates, Islam (especially that of the Sunni
modernization through colonization can bemainstream, comprising
about 90 percent ofrepresented as a story of humiliation,
retreat,the worlds Muslims) is a conservative, pop-and betrayal of
Islams mission to bring univer-ulist force, which resists tight
doctrinal or sal truth and justice to a world torn by
divisionecclesiastical controls. While Muslim scrip-and strife. The
violence that struck America onturalism and orthopraxy provide a
commonSeptember 11th 2001, may have been rooted inlanguage which
crosses ethnic, racial, andthe despair of people holding a
romantic, ide-national boundariescreating the largestalized vision
of the past and smarting under theinternational society known to
the worldhumiliation of the present. While those whoin premodern
timesit has never succeeded planned the operation were almost
certainly,in supplying the ideological underpinning for educated,
sophisticated men, fully cognizanta unified social order that can
be translated with the workings of modern societies, it doesinto
common national identity. In the Westnot seem accidental that most
of the fifteenthe institutions of medieval Christianity,hijackers
were Saudi citizens, several from theallied to Roman legal
structures, created the province of Asir. This impoverished
mountain-preconditions for the emergence of the mod- ous region
close to the modern borders ofern national state. In Islamdom the
moral Yemen was conquered by the Al Saud family inbasis of the
state was constantly underminedthe 1920s, and still retains many of
its linksby the realities of tribal asabiyya. Thesewith the Yemeni
tribes. Like all decent people,could be admitted de facto, but
never accord- Ibn Khaldun would have been horrified by theed de
jure recognition. This may be one rea-indiscriminate slaughter of
9/11: but it isson why a civilization that by the tenth anddoubtful
that he would have been surprised.13
14. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLDFoundational Beliefs
and Practices In the majority of Islamic traditions, allnal bliss
in the gardens of heaven. Those Muslims adhere to certain
fundamentals. who have failed in their duty will be sen- The most
important is the profession of tenced to the fires of hell. faith,
a creedal formula that states:The Koran also articulates a frame-
There is no God but God. Muhammad is work of practices which have
become the Messenger of God. Stated beforenormative for Muslims
over time. witnesses, this formulacalled the One of them is
worship, which takes Shahadais the sufficient requirement several
forms, such as salat (ritual for conversion to Islam and belonging
toprayer), dhikr (contemplative prayer), or the Umma. dua (prayers
of exhortation and praise).Muslims affirm tawhid (the Unity and
Muslims performing salat prostrate Uniqueness of God). They believe
that themselves in the direction of the Kaba, God has communicated
to humanitythe cubic temple covered in an embroi- throughout its
history by way ofdered cloth of black silk that stands at the
Messengers, who include figures likecenter of the sacred shrine in
Mecca. Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and that Salat is performed
daily: early morning, Muhammad was the final Messenger to noon,
mid-afternoon, sunset and evening, whom was revealed the Koran. In
person- or combined according to circumstance. al and social life,
Muslims are required to Prayer may be performed individually, at
adhere to a moral and ethical mode of home, in a public place such
as a park or behavior for which they are accountable street, or in
the mosque (an English word before God. derived from the Arabic
masjid, place ofAs well as tawhid, articles of faith prostration)
or other congregational adhered to by Muslims include the
beliefplaces. The call to prayer (adhan) is made that angels and
other supernaturalfrom the minaret which stands above the beings
act as divine emissaries; that Iblis mosque. It includes the takbir
(allahu or Satan, the fallen angel, was cast out of akbar God is
most great), as well as heaven for refusing Gods command toshahada
and the imperative: Hurry to prostrate himself before Adam; and
that salat. In the past, before electronic Muhammad is the seal of
the amplification, the beautifully modulated prophets, the last in
a line of human sounds of the adhan were delivered in messengers
sent by God to teach and person by a muezzin from the minarets warn
humanity. The Koran affirms that five times a day. The noon salat
on Friday the recipients of previous revelations is the
congregational service, and is the Christians and Jewshave
corruptedaccompanied by a khutba (sermon) spo- the scriptures sent
down to them. Itken by the Imam, or prayer leader or warns of the
Day of Judgement when allother religious notable. In the early cen-
individuals, living or dead, will beturies of Islam, the name of
the caliph or answerable to God for their conduct.ruler was
pronounced with the khutba. The virtuous will be rewarded with
eter-When territories changed hands between14
15. INTRODUCTIONdifferent rulers (as frequently happened),
Another significant ritual practice isthe official indication of a
change of gov- the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, whichernment came
in the form of the procla- practicing Muslims are required to
per-mation of the new rulers name in the form at least once in
their lifetimes, ifcountrys leading mosques.able to do so.
Historically the Hajj has Another foundational practice is been one
of the principal means by whichzakat, sharing of wealth (not to be
con-different parts of the Muslim worldfused with voluntary charity
or sadaqa).remained in physical contact. In pre-In the past, zakat
was intended to foster modern times, before mass transporta-a sense
of community by stressing the tion by steamships and aircraft
broughtobligation of the better-off to help thethe Hajj within the
reach of people ofpoor, and was paid to religious leaders ormodest
or average means, returning pil-to the government. At present,
differentgrims enjoyed the honored title of HajjiMuslim groups
observe practices specificand a higher social status within theirto
their traditions.communities than non-Hajjis. As well as Sawm is
the fast in daylight hours dur-providing spiritual fulfilment, the
Hajjing the holy month of Ramadan, when sometimes created business
opportunitiesbelievers abstain from eating, drinking,by enabling
pilgrims from differentsmoking, and sexual activity. Abu Hamid
regions of the world to meet each other. Ital-Ghazali, the medieval
mystic and the-also facilitated movements of religious-ologian,
listed numerous benefits frompolitical reform. Many political
move-the discipline of fasting. These included ments were forged
out of encounters thatpurity of the heart and the sharpening of
took place on the pilgrimagefrom theperceptions that comes with
hunger, Shiite rebellion that led to the foundationmortification
and self-abasement, self- of the Fatimid caliphate in North
Africamastery by overcoming desire, and soli- (909) to modern
Islamist movements ofdarity with the hungry: the person who is
revival and reform. The end of Ramadansated is liable to forget
those people is marked by the Id al-Fitr (the Feast ofwho are
hungry and to forget hunger Fast Breaking), while the climax of
theitself. Ramadan is traditionally an occa-Hajj involves the Id
al-Adha (Feast ofsion both for family reunions and reli- Sacrifice)
in which all Muslims partici-gious reflection. In many Muslim
coun-pate by sacrificing animals. These twotries, the fast becomes
a feast at sun- feasts are the major canonical festivalsdownan
occasion for public conviviali- observed by Muslims everywhere.
Therety that lasts well into the night. Ramadanare, in addition,
many other devotionalis the ninth month in the hijri (lunar cal-
and spiritual practices among Muslimsendar) which falls short of
the solar yearthat have developed over the centuries,by 11 days:
thus Ramadan, like otherbased on specific interpretations of
theMuslim festivals, occurs at different sea-practice of faith and
its interaction withsons over a 35-year cycle.local
traditions.15
16. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLDGeophysical Map of the
Muslim WorldAlthough lands of the Islamic world now highlands of
Yemen and Dhufar, which catchoccupy a broad belt of territories
rangingthe Indian Ocean monsoons, and the Jungulifrom the African
shores of the Atlantic to theregion lying south of the Caspian Sea
underIndonesian archipelago, the core regions of the northern
slopes of the Elburz, whichWestern Asia where Islam originated
exer- catches moisture-laden air flowing southwardcised a decisive
influence on its development.from Russia.Compared to Western Europe
and North Before recent times, when crops such asAmerica, the
region is perennially short on wheat, requiring large amounts of
water,rainfall. During the winter, rain and snowappeared in the
shape of food imports, andunderground fossil water (stored for
millionsOriginally built in the fourteenthof years in aquifers)
became available through century, the mosque at Agades, modern
methods of drilling, agriculture was in Niger, is made of mud.
Itshighly precarious. A field that had yielded structure is
constantly renewedwheat for millennia would fail when the annu-by
workers bearing new mudal rainfall was one inch instead of the
usual who climb up the wooden poststwenty. Ancient peoples
understood this well,that protrude from the sides andand provided
themselves with granaries.serve as scaffolding. However,
agriculture did flourish in the greatriver valleys of Egypt and
Mesopotamia (nowIraq). Here the annual flooding caused by
thetropical rains in Africa and melting snows inthe Anatolian and
Iranian highlands pro-duced regular harvests and facilitated
thedevelopment of the complex city-based cul-tures of ancient
Sumer, Assyria, and Egypt.The need to manage finely calibrated
systemsof irrigation using the nutrient-rich waters ofthe Tigris,
the Euphrates, and the Nilerequired complex systems of recording
andcontrol, making it necessary for literatepriestly bureaucrats to
govern alongside theholders of military power. Together with
theYellow River in China and the Indus Valley,the three great river
systems of the FertileCrescent are at the origins of human
civiliza-born by westerlies from the Atlantic fall intion. The
first states, in the sense of orderlysubstantial quantities on the
Atlas and Riffian systems of government based on commonMountains,
the Cyrenaican massif, and legal principles, appeared in these
regionsMount Lebanon, with the residue falling more than five
millennia ago.intermittently on the Green Mountain ofThe limited
extent of the soil water neces-Oman, the Zagros, the Elburz, and
the moun- sary for agricultural production had a decisivetains of
Afghanistan. But the only rains that impact on the evolution of
human societies inoccur with predictable regularity fall in the the
arid zone. Though conditions vary from16
17. GEOPHYSICAL MAP OF THE MUSLIM WORLDone region to another,
certain features distin- Unlike peasant cultivators, a portion
ofguish the patterns of life from those of thewhose product may be
extracted by priests intemperate zones to the north or tropical
zonesthe form of offerings or by the ruler in taxes,to the south.
Where rainfall is scarce andnomadic pastoralists will often avoid
the con-uncertain, animal husbandrythe raising offines of state
power. People are organized intocamels, sheep, goats, cattle, and,
where suit-tribes or patrilineal kinship groups descendedable,
horsesoffers the securest livelihood for from a common male
ancestor. Militarysubstantial numbers of humans. The pureprowess is
encouraged because, where fooddeserts or sand seas of shifting
dunes shapedresources are scarce, tribal or segmentaryby the wind,
which cover nearly one-third ofgroups may have to compete with each
other,the land area of Arabia and North Africa, are or make raids
on settled villages, in order toAs Islam established itself
alongthe Silk Road, mosques werebuilt for travelers and
localconverts. This mosque in theXinjiang province of Chinareflects
the Central Asianinfluence in its design.wholly unsuitable for
human and animal life,survive. Property is held communally,
classi-and have generally been avoided by herdsmen,cally in the
form of herds, rather than in thetraders, and armies. But in the
broader semi- form of crop-yielding land. Property and ter-desert
regions complex forms of nomadic and ritory are not coterminous (as
they tended toseminomadic pastoralism have evolved. Inbecome in
regions of higher rainfall) becausewinter the flocks and herds will
range far into the land may be occupied by different users atthe
wadis or semidesert areas, to feed on the different seasons of the
year. Vital resources,grasses and plants that can spring up after
the such as springs or wells in which everyone haslightest of
showers. In the heat of summeran interest, are often considered as
belongingthey will move, where possible, to pastures into God, and
are entrusted to the custodian-the highlands, or cluster near pools
or wells.ship of special families regarded as holy.17