HISTORY

OF
ISLAM

Islam: 7th century

In the 7th century Arabia becomes the cradle of the world's

third great monotheistic religion. All three have begun within a
small area of southwest Asia. First Judaism, somewhere in the
region stretching up from the Red Sea to Palestine;
then Christianity at the northern end of this area; and finally
Islam to the south, in Mecca, close to the Red Sea.

Each of the later arrivals in this close family of religions claims

to build upon the message of its predecessors, bringing a
better and more up-to-date version of the truth about the one
God - in this case as revealed to the Messenger of God,
Muhammad. Islam means 'surrender' (to God), and from the
same root anyone who follows Islam is a Muslim.
It is on Mount Hira, according to tradition, that the archangel
Gabriel appears to Muhammad. He describes later how he
seemed to be grasped by the throat by a luminous being, who
commanded him to repeat the words of God. On other
occasions Muhammad often has similar experiences (though
there are barren times, and periods of self doubt, when he is
sustained only by his wife Khadija's unswerving faith in him).

From about 613 Muhammad preaches in Mecca the message

which he has received.
Muhammad's message is essentially the existence of one God,
all-powerful but also merciful, and he freely acknowledges that
other prophets - in particular Abraham, Moses and Jesus -
have preached the same truth in the past.

But monotheism is not a popular creed with those whose

livelihood depends on idols. Muhammad, once he begins to win
converts to the new creed, makes enemies among the traders
of Mecca. In 622 there is a plot to assassinate him. He escapes
to the town of Yathrib, about 300 kilometres to the north.

Muhammad and the Muslim era: from622

The people of Yathrib, a prosperous oasis, welcome

Muhammad and his followers. As a result, the move from
Mecca in 622 comes to seem the beginning of Islam.

The Muslim era dates from the Hegira - Arabic for 'emigration',
meaning Muhammad's departure from Mecca. In the
Muslim calendar this event marks the beginning of year 1.

Yathrib is renamed Madinat al Nabi, the 'city of the prophet',

and thus becomes known as Medina. Here Muhammad steadily
acquires a stronger following. He is now essentially a religious,
political and even military leader rather than a merchant
(Khadija has died in 619).

He continues to preach and recite the words which God reveals

to him. It is these passages, together with the earlier
revelations at Mecca, which are written down in the Arabic
script by his followers and are collected to become the Qur'an
- a word (often transliterated as Koran) with its roots in the
idea of 'recital', reflecting the oral origin of the text. The final
and definitive text of the Qur'an is established under the third
caliph, Othman, in about 650.

The Muslims and Mecca: 624-630

Relations with Mecca deteriorate to the point of pitched battles

between the two sides, with Muhammad leading his troops in
the field. But in the end it is his diplomacy which wins the day.

He persuades the Meccans to allow his followers back into the

city, in 629, to make a pilgrimage to the Ka'ba and the Black
Stone.

On this first Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Muhammad's

followers impress the local citizens both by their show of
strength and by their self-control, departing peacefully after
the agreed three days. But the following year the Meccans
break a truce, provoking the Muslims to march on the city.

They take Mecca almost without resistance. The inhabitants

accept Islam. And Muhammad sweeps the idols out of
the Ka'ba, leaving only the sacred Black Stone.
An important element in Mecca's peaceful acceptance of the
change has been Muhammad's promise that pilgrimage to the
Ka'ba will remain a central feature of the new religion.

So Mecca becomes, as it has remained ever since, the holy city

of Islam. But Medina is by now where Muhammad and his most
trusted followers live. And for the next few decades Medina will
be the political centre of the developing Muslim state.
Muhammad lives only two years after the peaceful
reconciliation with Mecca. He has no son. His only surviving
children are daughters by Khadija, though since her death he
has married several younger women, among whom his
favourite is A'isha.

Muhammad and the caliphate: from632-656

There is no clear successor to Muhammad among his followers.

The likely candidates include Abu Bakr (the father of
Muhammad's wife A'isha) and Ali (a cousin of Muhammad and
the husband of Muhammad's daughter Fatima). Abu Bakr is
elected, and takes the title 'khalifat rasul-Allah'.

The Arabic phrase means 'successor of the Messenger of God'.

It will introduce a new word, caliph, to the other languages of
the world.
Abu Bakr, the first caliph, lives no more than two years after
the death of Muhammad. Even so, within this brief time Muslim
armies have begun their astonishing expansion, subduing the
whole of Arabia and striking as far north as Palestine.

Abu Bakr is succeeded in 634 by Omar (another father-in-law

of Muhammad), who in 638 captures Jerusalem. Six years
 later Omar is stabbed and killed in the mosque at Medina - for
personal reasons, it seems, by a Persian craftsman living in
Kufa.
Othman, chosen as the third caliph, is a son-in-law of
Muhammad. By the end of his reign, in 656, Arabs have
conquered as far afield as north Africa, Turkey and
Afghanistan.

Othman, like his predecessor, is assassinated - but this time by

rebellious Muslims. They choose ali, another son-in-law of
Muhammad, as the fourth caliph. For the first time within the
Muslim community the selected caliph is the choice of just one
faction. Ali's caliphate eventually provokes the only major
sectarian split in the history of Islam, between Sunni and
Shi'a (see The Shi'as).

Ali: 656-661

Raised to the position of caliph by rebels, Ali spends most of

his reign in conflict with other Muslims. He wins the first battle,
near Basra in 656, against an army fighting in support of
Muhammad's widow, A'isha. She is herself in the fray, riding a
camel, with the result that the event is remembered as the
'battle of the camel'.

But it is Ali's last success. The governor of Syria, Mu'awiya,

wages a prolonged campaign against him to avenge the
murder of the caliph Othman, his kinsman. Other opponents
succeed in assassinating Ali, in 661, outside the mosque in
Kufa - a Muslim garrison town to which he has moved the
capital from Medina.
The Umayyad caliphate:661-750

Mu'awiya, the leader of the struggle against Ali and his supporters, establishes himself after
Ali's death in 661 as the undisputed caliph. His power base has been Syria. Damascus now
becomes the capital of the first Muslim dynasty and the centre of the new Arab empire.

Mu'awiya is a member of one of the most prominent families of Mecca, the Umayya. Against
considerable opposition he establishes a new principle - that the role of caliph shall be
hereditary rather than elected. For the next century and more it is passed on within his family.
The Umayyad dynasty will rule from Damascus until 750 and then will establish another
kingdom at Cordoba, in Spain.

The Shi'as: from the 7th century

After the death of Ali, opponents of the new Umayyad dynasty promote the claims of Ali's two
sons, Hasan and Husayn (grandsons of Muhammad). Their party becomes known as Shi'at Ali
(the 'party of Ali'). The political cause crumbles after the death of the brothers (Hasan dies in
about 669 and Husayn, subsequently the most holy of Shi'ite martyrs, is killed in the battle of
Karbala in 680). But their faction has from now on a lasting religious disagreement with the
Islam of the caliphs.

The main group under the caliphate becomes known as Sunni (those following Sunna, the
orthodox rule) and the new schismatic sect acquires the name of Shi'as or Shi'ites, from the
original name of their party.

Sufis: from the 8th century

As early as the 8th century, a reaction sets in against the worldly interests resulting from the
rapid rise of the caliphate to the status of a great temporal power. Devout Muslims struggle to
retain the purity and mystical fervour of the early years of their religion. Insisting on a simple
life, like the desert fathers of early Christianity, they are recognizable by their choice of plain
woollen garments.

The Arabic for someone wearing wool is sufi. This name becomes attached, in later centuries,
to any Muslim inclined to the mysticism which has always been part of Islam.
There have been, and still are today, many different Sufi sects. They often begin as the
followers of one particular holy man, and pilgrimage to the tomb of a saint has been an
important part of Sufi devotion. So has the use by ascetic Sufis (or dervishes) of repetitive
phrases and actions, conducive to mystical experience. A well-known but extreme example is
the whirling of the so-called dancing dervishes, a Sufi sect founded in the 13th century by the
Persian mystical poet Jalal-ud-din Rumi.

But Sufism is a form of religious experience and commitment open to any Muslim, without
membership of a particular sect. In keeping with its name, it runs through Islam like a thread
within a woollen garment.

Arabs and Muslims: 8th century

During the explosive first century of Arab expansion, the relationship subtly changes between
two concepts - Arab and Muslim. At first they are inseparable. The Muslim armies are made up
entirely of Arab tribesmen, and it is taken for granted that only Arabs can be Muslims. Between
campaigns the Arab armies stay together in winter camps or garrison towns. They are an
occupying force, having little link with the inhabitants of the conquered territories.

But by the early 8th century, when the Muslim expansion has reached something approaching
its peak, there are not enough Arabs to provide the troops.
Out of necessity, people of other groups begin to be received into Islam, fighting alongside the
Arabs. Berbers do so in the west, and Persians in the east. Inevitably there are resentments.
Non-Arabs often feel they are treated as second-class Muslims, particularly when it comes to
sharing out loot after a campaign. And the conversion of outsiders to Islam brings a financial
burden. Non-Muslims are charged a poll tax, which is not paid by believers. The spread of the
faith is a drain on the treasury.

These various tensions, and the inevitable difficulty of controlling the vast new empire, result in
a rebellion in 747 against the Umayyad caliph.

The Abbasid caliphate: from750

Persia is the region in which resistance comes to a head against the caliphate of
the Umayyads in Damascus. The uprising is partly a simple struggle between Arab factions,
each of impeccable pedigree in relation to the pioneers of Islam. A revolt in Persia in 747 is
headed by descendants of al-Abbas, an uncle of the prophet Muhammad. Their new caliphate,
established in 750, will be known as Abbasid.

The involvement of Persia is also significant. The Umayyad caliphate in Damascus derives from
the early days of Islam when all Muslims are Arabs. But many Muslims in the east are now
Persian, and Persian sophistication is beginning to divert Muslim culture from its simple Arab
origins.
Abbasid forces reach and capture Damascus in 750. Abul Abbas is proclaimed the first caliph of
a new line. Male members of the Umayyad family are hunted down and killed (though one
survives to establish a new Umayyad dynasty in Spain).

The centre of gravity of the Muslim world now moves east, from Syria to Mesopotamia. In 762
a new capital city, Baghdad, is founded on the Tigris. It is about twenty miles upstream
from Ctesiphon, one of the leading cities of the preceding Persian dynasty, the Sassanians.
Baghdad: 8th century

In their new city of Baghdad the Abbasid caliphs adopt the administrative system of the long-
established Persian empire. Persian Muslims are as much involved in the life of this thriving
place as Arab Muslims. Here Islam outgrows its Arab roots and becomes an international
religion. Here the Arabic and early Persian languages coalesce to become, from the 10th
century, what is now known as Persian - combining words from both sources and using the
Arabic script. Here Mesopotamia briefly recovers its ancient status at the centre of one of the
world's largest empires.

At no time is this more evident than in the reign of the best-known of the Abbasid caliphs,
Harun al-Rashid.
The luxury and delight of Harun al-Rashid's Baghdad, in the late 8th century, has been
impressed on the western mind by one of the most famous works of Arabic literature -
the Thousand and One Nights. Some of the stories are of a later date, but there are details
in them which certainly relate to this period when for the first time a Muslim court has the
leisure and prosperity to indulge in traditional oriental splendour.

The caliphate is now at its widest extent, with reasonable calm on most borders. The
international fame of Harun himself can be judged by the emphasis of Charlemagne's
biographers on the mutual esteem of these two contemporary potentates, who send each
other Rich gifts.

Islam and other religions: from the 7th century

Muslims are instructed in the Qur'an to be tolerant of the two older and closely related
religions, Judaism and Christianity, which share with Islam the essential characteristics of
monotheism and a sacred book; they are all linked in the phrase 'people of the book'. Jews and
Christians have therefore, through most of history, fared better under Islam than has been the
fate of Jews or Muslims in Christian countries.

Zoroastrianism does not feature in the Qur'an. But it also has one god and a sacred book.
The Muslim conquerors of Persia therefore show a degree of tolerance to the state religion of
the previous dynasty.

Arab civilization: from the 8th century

By the end of the 8th century a distinctive Arab civilization is emerging in widely separated
regions. It is evident from the 8th century in Baghdad in the east and in Cordoba in the west.
By the 10th century, between the two, there is a similar centre in the new city of Cairo.

The shared characteristics of these great cities are Islam, the Arabic language and a tolerance
which allows Christians and Jews to play a full part in the community. The results include an
expansion of trade (making these places the most prosperous of their time, apart from T'ang
China), and a level of scholarship and intellectual energy superior to contemporary Christian
cities.
Together with the spread of Islam, a lasting result of the events of the 7th century is the
triumph of Arabic as a language in the middle east and north Africa. In Palestine and Syria it
gradually replaces Aramaic as the popular tongue; in Egypt it does the same with Coptic;
further west along the north African coast, it edges the language of the Berbers into a
minority status.

The sense of identity of Arabs in subsequent centuries does not necessarily involve descent
from the tribes of Arabia. It depends instead on the sharing of Arabic as both language and
culture (implying also in most cases a commitment to Islam). It is this which provides the
strong Arabic element in the civilization of the Middle Ages, from Mesopotamia to Spain.
Islam in east Africa: 8th - 11th century

Africa is the first region into which Islam is carried by

merchants rather than armies. It spreads down the well-
established trade routes of the east coast, in which the coastal
towns of the Red Sea (the very heart of Islam) play a major
part.

There is archaeological evidence from the 8th century of a tiny

wooden mosque, with space enough for about ten worshippers,
as far south as modern Kenya - on Shanga, one of the islands
offshore from Lamu. Shanga's international links at the time
are further demonstrated by surviving fragments of Persian
pottery and Chinese stoneware.
By the 11th century, when Islam makes its greatest advances
in Africa, several settlements down the east coast have stone
mosques.

At Kilwa, on the coast of modern Tanzania, a full-scale Muslim

dynasty is established at this period. Coins from about 1070
give the name of the local ruler as 'the majestic Sultan Ali bin
al-Hasan'. Three centuries later the Muslim traveller Ibn
Batuta finds Kilwa an extremely prosperous sultanate, busy
with trade in gold and slaves. In the 20th century Muslims
remain either a majority or a significant minority in most
regions of the east African coast. But the early penetration of
Islam is even more effective down the caravan routes of west
Africa.

Islam in west Africa: 8th - 11th century

From the 8th century Islam spreads gradually south in the

oases of the Sahara trade routes. By the 10th century many
of the merchants at the southern end of the trade routes are
Muslims. In the 11th century the rulers begin to be converted.

The first Muslim ruler in the region is the king of Gao, from
about the year 1000. The ruling classes of other communities
follow suit. The king of Ghana, the most powerful realm, is
one of the last to accept Islam - probably in the 1070s.
The effect of Islam on African communities, with their own
strong traditional cultures, is a gradual process. In 1352 Ibn
Batuta visits Mali, the kingdom which in effect replaces
Ghana. He is impressed by the people's regularity in saying
their prayers, but he looks with stern disapproval at certain
practices which are more evidently African.

He particularly frowns upon performances by masked dancers,

and on the tendency of women to walk about in an unseemly
shortage of clothing. Nevertheless the influence of Islam on
this part of Africa is profound. From the Sudan to the Atlantic,
the entire region north of the equatorial forests remains to this
day largely Muslim.

Muslims from Ghazni: 10th - 11th century

The long-standing threat to India from Muslim invaders is

renewed when an aggressive Turkish dynasty wins power in
Ghazni, southwest of Kabul. On several occasions Subuktigin,
the first of these Ghazni rulers, makes raids on the region
around Peshawar. Under his son, Mahmud, expeditions into
India become a regular policy. During a 33-year reign, the
number of his campaigns in the subcontinent is somewhere
between twelve and seventeen.

Many of them are sorties for plunder and booty among the
riches of India, sometimes as far down the Ganges as Kannauj.
But Mahmud's most famous undertaking, in 1025, is different
in kind. It is undertaken in a mood of religious zeal as much as
for plunder.
India is the first place where invading Muslims are confronted
with a highly developed cult of idolatry. The Hindu profusion
of sculpted gods and goddesses, often provocative or weird in
the disposition of their limbs, is well calculated to outrage any
attentive reader of the Qur'an - with its prohibitions against
idols and graven images. Mahmud's strenuous effort in
marching an army across the desert south from Multan, in
1025, has a holy purpose.

His destination is the great temple at Somnath,

where Shiva's linga is washed daily in water brought by
runners from the Ganges.
The temple has 1000 Brahmin priests and 600 musicians,
dancers and other attendants. Countless pilgrims bring it vast
wealth (the removal of which adds to the pleasure of pious
indignation). When Mahmud arrives to destroy the place, it is
said that 50,000 Hindus die in defence of it. No trace is allowed
to remain of the building or its sacred contents.

In the annals of Muslim India, Mahmud acquires a heroic status

for this act of destruction. It is the first in the long series of
sectarian outrages which have marred the 1000-year
relationship between Muslims and Hindus.
Since most of Mahmud's expeditions have been in the nature
of raids, he and his heirs never extend their control beyond the
Punjab - the territory closest to Afghanistan. But this foothold
beyond the Khyber Pass gives easy access to the rich north
Indian plain. In leaving the door ajar, Mahmud creates an
opening for countless Muslim adventurers from central Asia.

This northwest region of the subcontinent will never again be

Hindu. For the next five centuries, Muslim marauders push
eastwards through the Punjab to find their fortunes in India.
Some of them (in particular the Moghuls) settle down as the
most spectactular of India's rulers.

Muslim Malaya and Indonesia: from the 13th century

Islam's final push to the east derives from the strength of

Muslim India. By the end of the 13th century Indian merchants
from Gujarat, trading through the Straits of Malacca, have
established Muslim settlements in northern Sumatra; they are
noted by Marco Polo.

The wealth and sophistication of these traders brings converts

to Islam, and the influence of the religion becomes rapidly
stronger after a Muslim sultanate is established in Malacca
from 1445. The threat of conquest and the benefits of trade
now provide two good reasons for the neighbouring
communities to embrace the Muslim faith.
During the 15th and 16th centuries Islam spreads through the
Malay peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Java. By the
17th century the Hindus, with their warrior princes, brahmin
priests and caste system, are confined to the eastern tip of
Java. Soon they are ousted even from there.

They cross to Bali, where they and their traditions manage to

survive. By this time the mainland regions from Burma to
Cambodia have resolved centuries of indecision
between Hinduism and Buddhism. They have chosen
Buddha. The small island of Bali becomes, as it remains to this
day, the only Hindu outpost in a southeast Asia otherwise
divided between Buddhism and Islam.

Three Muslim empires: 16th - 18th century

By the mid-16th century the broad sweep of the Muslim world,

from the Atlantic coast of north Africa all the way to India, has
settled down as three powerful neighbouring empires.

In the west, occupying roughly the extent of the Byzantine

territory before the Arab conquests of the 7th century, is
the Ottoman empire with its capital in Istanbul. In the centre
is the Safavid dynasty of Persia, passionately committed to
the doctrines of The Shi'as in opposition to the Sunni
orthodoxy of the Ottoman Turks. In the east is the Moghul
empire, covering the greater part of India. It differs from the
others in that its Muslim ruling class is a minority in an infidel
population.
There is frequent border warfare between Persia and its
neighbours on either side, but for a century and more the
three regions are relatively stable and prosperous.

Then, during the 18th century, Persia is shaken by internal

conflicts, bringing three new dynasties within fifty years. At the
same time there are external threats, from European powers,
to the Ottoman and Moghul empires. The Turkish sultans
acquire a powerful and hostile neighbour in the form of the
expanding Russian empire. India finds itself drawn gradually
and inexorably into the British empire.
This History is as yet incomplete.