islam in world civilization: gunpowder empires and revival and reform
TRANSCRIPT
Islam in World Civilization: Gunpowder Empires and Revival and Reform
Themes
Three Great Gunpowder Empires – Acme of Muslim political power (1500-1700) map
• Notion of Universal Empire• Subjugation of Clergy to State• Late Sunni Tradition in full
efflorescence• Acceptance of religious syncretism • Ottoman/Safavid War Sunni/Shiite
split set in relief
The Ottoman Empire Originally a band of raiders, the Ottomans
become ‘Caesars’ and masters of an Islamicate world empire; caliphs, ghazis, Caesar, Family of Osman…
• Pinnacle with Sulayman the Magnificent (r. 1520-66)• Territorial peak in 1638; 1529 and 1683 sieges of
Vienna
Ottoman Religious Life: Bureaucratization and Sufism
• Ulama are state employees, serving in positions in mosques madrasas and as bureaucrats
• Syncretic Sufi movements:– Ex. Bektashis with eucharist like service, trinity– Ibn ‘Arabi’s writings become standard works of study
Pictures Tour 2 Tours 1
Safavid Iran
• Sufi Tariqa become Alid messianic movement and military – Safavid tariqa originally Sunni; founded by
Shaykh Safi al-Din Founded by Safi al-Din (d. 1334)
– At some point it becomes militaristic and extremist Shiite… culminating with Shah Ismail (d. 1524)… the mahdi and God incarnate
– Conversion of Iran to 12er Shiism• Pinnacle with Shah ‘Abbas (r. 1587-1629)
– Transition to orthodox 12er Shi’ism– Shah and Ulama’ / state and religion
pictures
Mughal Empire
• General history: ‘The Indian Timurids’– Akbar (d. 1556-1605)– Muslim overlords ruling with cooperation of
Hindu princes and population
• Muslim/Hindu Accretion– Sulh-e kul: ‘universal reconciliation’– Rural Sufi tariqas basically Hindu, Hindi
writings– Akbar becomes vegetarian and prohibits
slaughter of animals on certain days to please Hindus and Jains; din ilahi = ‘religion of God’– universal religion with Akbar as head
– Aurangzeb (d. 1707) and breaking the peace• 1679 starts levying jizya (poll tax) on Hindus
Badshahi Mosque built by Aurangzeb in 1670’s
Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan
Babur’s court
Movements of Revival and Reform
17th century sees series of (Salafi?) movements in peripheral areas:
• Notion that community had gone astray
• Questioning Late Sunni Tradition in order to regain primordial purity of Islam
• Shirk had led people from tawhid• Taqlid not acceptable• Political/Military vs. other MuslimsEx. Wahhabi movement in Arabia,
Sokoto Caliphate in Hausaland, Futa Jallan (d. 1751) in Senegal
Wahhabi Movement - Emergence
Arabia on the Eve of the movement:– Alois Musil: non-Islamic religion
prevelant; Bedouins sacrifice camels at graves of ancestors, area around the grave of Zayd b. al-Khattab exempt from taxes
– Dates are really only crop, with some wheat and millet… all depends on irrigation … drought is catastrophic
– Settled – Sown continuum– Hierarchy of tribes, with Sulubba at the
bottom (crafts, repairs)– Mecca and Medina are centers of
Ottoman Late Sunni Tradition
Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab• b. 1703-4 in Uyayna to family of Hanbalis
scholars• Married at age 12, had over 20 wives form
alliances• His father had written a treatise against the
veneration of saints… inspired by Ibn Taymiyya• Travels to Mecca Medina and Basra, where he
studies with scholars who (like Muhammad b. Hayat al-Sindi d. 1165/1751) inspire him with idea of returning to Tawhid and using hadith to do so
• In 1740 becomes judge in Uyayna; where the amir of the city sees the shaykh’s teachings as a basis for political power, amir has some sacred trees chopped down, but angers peoples and has to flee the city; angers Shiite in al-Hisa’
• In Dir’iyya he meets Muhammad b. Saud in 1744….
• Alliance formed between the Shaykh the Imam
Wahhabi Ideology• Jahiliyya vs. Tawhid (no saints or idolatry) /
Sunna vs. Taqlid (go back to Hadiths)• Manifestations of Pure Tawhid:
– Practice and rejection of cultural accretion: Anti saints, cults and dhikr, but not against Sufism per se
– Intention: Anti- riya’ – Social: Abolishes hierachical practices such as
handkissing• Moral revival: Condemns greed and usury,
encourages morals and kindness• Sunna:
– rejection of loyalty to a school of law ijtihad– rejection of foreign sciences in Islamic thought – Anti Shiite (ex. refutations written by his son Abdallah)
• Political link to Sauds: linked to and loyal to amir, who is responsible for caring for community and setting up proper Islamic society, Saudi amir is called “imām”
• It is interesting that he is rejecting staples of Ottoman nobility (booze, tabacoo, zikr, silk)
History of Wahhabi MovementAfter Ibn Abd al-Wahhab:• 1801 Wahhabi troops attack Kerbala• 1803 Wahhabis capture Mecca and Medina• 1812 Ibrahim Pasha sent to crush Wahhabis in Nejd, 1818 he captures
Diriyya and has grandsons of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab imprisoned or killed
Saudi/Wahhabi State… Round Two! • 1902 Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud (d. 1952) takes Riyadh• Creation of Ikhwan and Hijras c. 1912• 1924 Ikhwan attack Mecca and Medina, massacre at Taif, Ibn Saud
enters Mecca as a pilgrim upon its surrender• 1932 kingdom of Najd and Hijaz declared• 1933 Aramco formed, first serious oil pumped in 1948… in early 50’s
Saudis get 50% of revenue
Making Peace with the World vs. Auto-Immune Disorder of Fundamentalism:• 1920 Ikhwan attack Kuwait, Brits drive them back with bombs• 1929 Ibn Saud fights war with Ikhwan at Battle of Sibla, Ibn Saud
crushes the Ikhwan and destroys their camps… Ikhwan at an end• Problem of settling Bedouins and paying them stipends to prevent
further attacks and raiding, this of course gets easier in the 1940’s when real oil revenue starts coming in.
• But it’s not gone! Haram takeover in 1979 by Juhaiman al-Utayba
Usman don Fodia and the Sokoto Caliphate
• Rejects of elitism of Muslim scholars• Rejects pantheistic worship: trees etc.• 1804-08 ‘Jihad’ against those who
refuse to purify their Islam… book “Revival of the Sunna and Extinguishing Bid’a”
• Establishes Sokoto State: has total of 13 wives… anti-racism and tribalism
• Makes ‘Islam’ a widely practiced religion amongst the Hausa and Fulani
Slide 1
Sa’d, the brother of Ibn Saud, killed in battle
Ikhwan Troops on the March
back
Ibn Saud’s Close family