The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam[1] or to societies in which Islam is practiced.[2][3] In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries in which Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion.[4][3] The term Muslim-majority countries is an alternative often used for the latter sense.[5]
The history of the Muslim world spans about 1,400 years and includes a variety of socio-political developments, as well as advances in the arts, science, medicine, philosophy, law, economics and technology, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age. All Muslims look for guidance to the Quran and believe in the prophetic mission of the Islamic prophetMuhammad, but disagreements on other matters have led to the appearance of different religious schools of thought and sects within Islam.[6] The Islamic conquests, which culminated in the Arab empire being established across three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for the emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic teachings.[7] In the modern era, most of the Muslim world came under European colonial domination. The nation states that emerged in the post-colonial era have adopted a variety of political and economic models, and they have been affected by secular and as well as religious trends.[8]
Most Muslims are of one of two denominations: Sunni Islam (87-90%)[24] and Shia (10-13%).[25] However, other denominations exist in pockets, such as Ibadi (primarily in Oman). Muslims who do not belong to, do not self-identify with, or cannot be readily classified under one of the identifiable Islamic schools and branches are known as non-denominational Muslims.[26][27][28][29] About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country;[30] 31% of Muslims live in South Asia,[31] the largest population of Muslims in the world;[32] 20% in the Middle East–North Africa,[33] where it is the dominant religion;[34] and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa, incl. Nigeria.[35] Muslims are the overwhelming majority in Central Asia,[36] the majority in the Caucasus,[37][38] and widespread in Southeast Asia.[39]India has the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries.[40]Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Egypt are home to the world’s second, fourth, sixth and seventh largest Muslim populations respectively. Sizeable Muslim communities are also found in the Americas, Russia, China, and Europe.[41][42][43] Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world partially due to their high birth rate.[44][45][46][47] China has the second largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries while Russia has the third largest Muslim population. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in Africa while Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in Asia.
The term has been documented as early as 1912 to encompass the influence of perceived pan-Islamic propaganda. The Times described Pan-Islamism as a movement with power, importance, and cohesion born in Paris, where Turks, Arabs and Persians congregated. The correspondent's focus was on India: it would take too long to consider the progress made in various parts of the Muslim world. The article considered the position of the Amir, the effect of the Tripoli Campaign[disambiguation needed], Anglo-Russian action in Persia, and "Afghan Ambitions".[48]
In a modern geopolitical sense, the terms 'Muslim world' and 'Islamic world' refer to countries in which Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion.[49][3] Some scholars and commentators have criticised the term 'Muslim/Islamic world' and its derivative terms 'Muslim/Islamic country' as "simplistic" and "binary", since no state has a religiously homogeneous population (e.g. Egypt's citizens are c. 10% Christians), and in absolute numbers, there are sometimes fewer Muslims living in countries in which they make up the majority than in countries in which they form a minority.[50][51][52] Hence, the term 'Muslim-majority countries' is often preferred in literature.[5]
The term "Islamic Golden Age" has been attributed to a period in history during which science, economic development and cultural works in most of the Muslim-dominated world flourished.[53][54] The age is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world sought to translate and gather all the known world's knowledge into Arabic,[55][56] and to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258.[57] The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr," that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education.[58] During this period, the Muslim world was a collection of cultures; they drew together and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indic,
Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of ceramic glaze was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery.[60]Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of fritware, originating from 9th-century Iraq.[61] Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).[62]
The best known work of fiction from the Islamic world is One Thousand and One Nights (In Persian: hezār-o-yek šab > Arabic: ʔalf-layl-at-wa-l’-layla= One thousand Night and (one) Night) or *Arabian Nights, a name invented by early Western translators, which is a compilation of folk tales from Sanskrit, Persian, and later Arabian fables. The original concept is derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype Hezār Afsān (Thousand Fables) that relied on particular Indian elements.[64] It reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another.[65] All Arabian fantasy tales tend to be called Arabian Nights stories when translated into English, regardless of whether they appear in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights or not.[65] This work has been very influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland.[66] Imitations were written, especially in France.[67] Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.[citation needed]
A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus, first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations might have later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first novel in English.[74][75][76][77]Philosophus Autodidactus, continuing the thoughts of philosophers such as Aristotle from earlier ages, inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist.[78]
One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture."[88] Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims.[88] The Persian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037) had more than 450 books attributed to him. His writings were concerned with various subjects, most notably philosophy and medicine. His medical textbook The Canon of Medicine was used as the standard text in European universities for centuries. He also wrote The Book of Healing, an influential scientific and philosophical encyclopedia.[citation needed]
One of the most influential Muslim philosophers in the West was Averroes (Ibn Rushd), founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, whose works and commentaries affected the rise of secular thought in Europe.[89] He also developed the concept of "existence precedes essence".[90]
Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experiment than the Greeks.[citation needed] This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from circa 1000, in his Book of Optics. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Jim Al-Khalili stated in 2009 that Ibn al-Haytham is 'often referred to as the "world's first true scientist".'[100]al-Khwarzimi's invented the log base systems that are being used today, he also contributed theorems in trigonometry as well as limits.[101] Recent studies show that it is very likely that the Medieval Muslim artists were aware of advanced decagonalquasicrystal geometry (discovered half a millennium later in the 1970s and 1980s in the West) and used it in intricate decorative tilework in the architecture.[102]
Muslim physicians contributed to the field of medicine, including the subjects of anatomy and physiology: such as in the 15th-century Persian work by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled Tashrih al-badan (Anatomy of the body) which contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems; or in the work of the Egyptian physician Ibn al-Nafis, who proposed the theory of pulmonary circulation. Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine remained an authoritative medical textbook in Europe until the 18th century. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (also known as Abulcasis) contributed to the discipline of medical surgery with his Kitab al-Tasrif ("Book of Concessions"), a medical encyclopedia which was later translated to Latin and used in European and Muslim medical schools for centuries. Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacy.[103]
In technology, the Muslim world adopted papermaking from China.[104] The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China via predominantly Islamic countries,[105] where formulas for pure potassium nitrate[106][107] were developed.
Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim-majority countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Islamic states between China and Europe. The emergence of major economic empires with technological resources after the conquests of Timur (Tamerlane) and the resurgence of the Timurid Renaissance include the Mali Empire and the India's Bengal Sultanate in particular, a major global trading nation in the world, described by the Europeans to be the "richest country to trade with".[108]
Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power and wind power,[109]fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).[110] The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. A variety of industrial mills were being employed in the Islamic world, including early fulling mills, gristmills, paper mills, hullers, sawmills, ship mills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.[104] Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.[111] Such advances made it possible for industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution, particularly from the proto-industrialisedMughal Bengal and Tipu Sultan's Kingdom, through the conquests of the East India Company.[112]
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Al-Idrisi of Sicily in 1154, one of the most advanced ancient world maps. Al-Idrisi also wrote about the diverse Muslim communities found in various lands. Note: the map is here shown upside-down from the original to match current North/Up, South/Down map design
The history of the Islamic faith as a religion and social institution begins with its inception around 610 CE, when the Islamic prophetMuhammad, a native of Mecca, is believed by Muslims to have received the first revelation of the Quran, and began to preach his message.[113] In 622 CE, facing opposition in Mecca, he and his followers migrated to Yathrib (now Medina), where he was invited to establish a new constitution for the city under his leadership.[113] This migration, called the Hijra, marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. By the time of his death, Muhammad had become the political and spiritual leader of Medina, Mecca, the surrounding region, and numerous other tribes in the Arabian Peninsula.[113]
"Why do the Christian nations, which were so weak in the past compared with Muslim nations begin to dominate so many lands in modern times and even defeat the once victorious Ottoman armies?"..."Because they have laws and rules invented by reason."
Map of colonial powers throughout the world in the year 1914 (note colonial powers in the pre-modern Muslim world).
Beginning with the 15th century, colonialism by European powers profoundly affected Muslim-majority societies in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Colonialism was often advanced by conflict with mercantile initiatives by colonial powers and caused tremendous social upheavals in Muslim-dominated societies.[126]
A number of Muslim-majority societies reacted to Western powers with zealotry and thus initiating the rise of Pan-Islamism; or affirmed more traditionalist and inclusive cultural ideals; and in rare cases adopted modernity that was ushered by the colonial powers.[127][126]
The only Muslim-majority regions not to be colonized by the Europeans were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan.[citation needed] Turkey was one of the first colonial powers of the world with the Ottoman empire ruling several states for over 6 centuries.
In the 20th century, the end of the European colonial domination has led to creation of a number of nation states with significant Muslim populations. These states drew on Islamic traditions to varying degree and in various ways in organizing their legal, educational and economic systems.[126] The Times first documented the term "Muslim world" in 1912 when describing Pan-Islamism as a movement with power importance and cohesion born in Paris where Turks, Arabs and Persians congregated. The article considered The position of the Amir; the effect of the Tripoli Campaign; Anglo-Russian action in Persia; and "Afghan Ambitions".[48]
In the 21st century, after the September 11 attacks (2001) coordinated by the WahhabiIslamist[129]terrorist group[130]Al-Qaeda[130][131][132][133] against the United States, scholars considered the ramifications of seeking to understand Muslim experience through the framework of secular Enlightenment principles. Muhammad Atta, one of the 11 September hijackers, reportedly quoted from the Quran to allay his fears: "Fight them, and God will chastise them at your hands/And degrade them, and He will help you/Against them, and bring healing to the breasts of a people who believe", referring to the ummah, the community of Muslim believers, and invoking the imagery of the early warriors of Islam who lead the faithful from the darkness of jahiliyyah.[134]
By Sayyid Qutb's definition of Islam, the faith is "a complete divorce from jahiliyyah". He complained that American churches served as centers of community social life that were "very hard [to] distinguish from places of fun and amusement". For Qutb, Western society was the modern jahliliyyah. His understanding of the "Muslim world" and its "social order" was that, presented to the Western world as the result of practicing Islamic teachings, would impress "by the beauty and charm of true Islamic ideology". He argued that the values of the Enlightenment and its related precursor, the Scientific Revolution, "denies or suspends God's sovereignty on earth" and argued that strengthening "Islamic character"
was needed "to abolish the negative influences of jahili life."[134]
Some countries have declared Islam as the official state religion. In those countries, the legal code is largely secular. Only personal status matters pertaining to inheritance and marriage are governed by Sharia law.[141] In some places, Muslims implement Islamic law, called sharia in Arabic. The Islamic law exists in a number of variations, called schools of jurisprudence. The Amman Message, which was endorsed in 2005 by prominent Islamic scholars around the world, recognized four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali), two Shia schools (Ja'fari, Zaidi), the Ibadi school, and the Zahiri school.[142]
Government and religion
Islamic states
Islamic states have adopted Islam as the ideological foundation of state and constitution.
The following Muslim-majoritystates have endorsed Islam as their state religion, and though they may guarantee freedom of religion for citizens, do not declare a separation of state and religion:
During much of the 20th century, the Islamic identity and the dominance of Islam on political issues have arguably increased during the early 21st century. The fast-growing interests of the Western world in Islamic regions, international conflicts and globalization have changed the influence of Islam on the world in contemporary history.[194]
Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism)[195] is a religio-political ideology. There is no consensus definition of Islamism,[196] which has many varieties and alternative names.[196] The use of the term is objected to by some as derogatory[197] and by others as so broad and flexible as to have lost its meaning.[198] In its original formulation, Islamism described an ideology seeking to revive Islam to its past assertiveness and glory,[199]
purifying it of foreign elements, reasserting its role into “social and political as well as personal life";[200] and in particular
“reordering government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam" (aka Sharia).[201][202][203][204] According to at least one observer (author Robin Wright), Islamist movements have "arguably altered the Middle East more than any trend since the modern states gained independence", redefining "politics and even borders".[205]
Al-Banna and Maududi called for a "reformist" strategy to re-Islamizing society through grassroots social and political activism.[209][210] Other Islamists (Al-Turabi) have advocated a "revolutionary" strategy of Islamizing society through exercise of state power,[209] or for combining grassroots Islamization with violent revolution (Sayyid Qutb). The term has been applied to non-state reform movements, political parties, militias and revolutionary groups.[211] Islamists emphasize the implementation of sharia,[212]pan-Islamic political unity,[212] the creation of Islamic states,[213] (eventually unified), and rejection of non-Muslim influences—particularly Western or universaleconomic, military, political, social, or cultural.
At least one author (Graham E. Fuller) has argued for a broader notion of Islamism as a form of identity politics, involving "support for [Muslim] identity, authenticity, broader regionalism, revivalism, [and] revitalization of the community."[214]
Islamists themselves prefer terms such as "Islamic movement",[215]
or "Islamic activism" to "Islamism", objecting to the insinuation that Islamism is anything other than Islam renewed and revived.[216] In public and academic contexts,[217] the term "Islamism" has been criticized as having been given connotations of violence, extremism, and violations of human rights, by the Western mass media, leading to Islamophobia and stereotyping.[195]
More than 24.1% of the world's population is Muslim.[219][220][221][222][223][224][225] Current estimates conclude that the number of Muslims in the world is around 1.8 billion.[219] Muslims are the majority in 49 countries,[226][227] they speak hundreds of languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The city of Karachi has the largest Muslim population in the world.[228][229]
Geography
Indonesia is currently the most populous Muslim-majority country.
Because the terms 'Muslim world' and 'Islamic world' are disputed, since no country is homogeneously Muslim, and there is no way to determine at what point a Muslim minority in a country is to be considered 'significant' enough, there is no consensus on how to define the Muslim world geographically.[50][51][5] The only rule of thumb for inclusion which has some support, is that countries need to have a Muslim population of more than 50%.[50][5]
Muslim-minority states
According to the Pew Research Center in 2015 there were 50 Muslim-majority countries, which are shown in the Government and religion section above in the article.[230][231] Apart from these, large Muslim populations exist in some countries where Muslims are a minority, and their Muslim communities are larger than many Muslim-majority nations:[232]
In 2010, 73% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in the majority, while 27% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in the minority. India's Muslim population is the world's largest Muslim-minority population in the world (11% of the world's Muslim population).[227] Jones (2005) defines a "large minority" as being between 30% and 50%, which described nine countries in 2000, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, North Macedonia, and Tanzania.[5]
The two main denominations of Islam are the Sunni and Shia sects. They differ primarily upon of how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should be governed, and the role of the imam. Sunnis believe that the true political successor of Muhammad according to the Sunnah should be selected based on ٍShura (consultation), as was done at the Saqifah which selected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, to be Muhammad's political but not his religious successor. Shia, on the other hand, believe that Muhammad designated his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his true political as well as religious successor.[240]
The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world, between 87 and 90%, are Sunni.[241]
Shias and other groups make up the rest, about 10–13% of overall Muslim population. The countries with the highest concentration of Shia populations are: Iran – 89%,[242] Azerbaijan – 65%,[243] Iraq – 60%,[244] Bahrain – 60%, Yemen – 35%,[245] Turkey – 10%,[246][247] Lebanon – 27%, Syria – 13%, Afghanistan – 10%, Pakistan – 10%,[248][249][250][251][252][253][254][255][256] and India – 10%.[257]
The Muslim world is home to some of the world's most ancient Christian communities,[268] and some of the most important cities of the Christian world—including three of its five great patriarchates (Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople).[269] Scholars and intellectuals agree Christians have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since the introduction of Islam,[270][271] and they have had a significant impact contributing the culture of the Middle East and North Africa and other areas.[272][273][274]Pew Research Center estimates indicate that in 2010, more than 64 million Christians lived in countries with Muslim majorities (excluding Nigeria). The Pew Forum study finds that Indonesia (21.1 million) has the largest Christian population in the Muslim world, followed by Egypt, Chad and Kazakhstan.[275] While according to Adly A. Youssef and Martyn Thomas, in 2004, there were around 30 million Christians who lived in countries with Muslim majorities, with the largest Christian population number lived in Indonesia, followed by Egypt.[276]Nigeria is divided almost evenly between Muslims and Christians, with more than 80 million Christians and Muslims.[277]
Jewish communities have existed across the Middle East and North Africa since the rise of Islam. Today, Jews residing in Muslim countries have been reduced to a small fraction of their former sizes,[278] with the largest communities of Jews in Muslim countries exist in the non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey (30,000); both, however, are much smaller than they historically have been.[279] Among Arab countries, the largest Jewish community now exists in Morocco with about 2,000 Jews and in Tunisia with about 1,000.[280] The number of Druze worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant (primarily in Syria and Lebanon).[281]
In 2010, the Pew Forum study finds that Bangladesh (13.5 million), Indonesia (4 million), Pakistan (3.3 million) and Malaysia (1.7 million) has a sizeable Hindu minorities. Malaysia (5 million) has the largest Buddhist population in the Muslim world.[227]Zoroastrians are the oldest remaining religious community in Iran.[282]
Bangladesh has the largest Hindu population in the Muslim world
Turkey has the largest Jewish population in the Muslim world[284]
Literacy and education
The literacy rate in the Muslim world varies. Azerbaijan is in second place in the Index of Literacy of World Countries. Some members such as Iran, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have over 97% literacy rates, whereas literacy rates are the lowest in Mali, Afghanistan, Chad and parts of Africa. Several Muslim-majority countries, such as Turkey, Iran and Egypt have a high rate of citable scientific publications.[285][286]
In 2015, the International Islamic News Agency reported that nearly 37% of the population of the Muslim world is unable to read or write, basing that figure on reports from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.[287] In Egypt, the largest Muslim-majority Arab country, the youth female literacy rate exceeds that for males.[288] Lower literacy rates are more prevalent in South Asian countries such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but are rapidly increasing.[289] In the Eastern Middle East, Iran has a high level of youth literacy at 98%,[290] but Iraq's youth literacy rate has sharply declined from 85% to 57% during the American-led war and subsequent occupation.[291] Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, has a 99% youth literacy rate.[292]
A 2011 Pew Research Center showed that at the time about 36% of all Muslims had no formal schooling, with only 8% having graduate and post-graduate degrees.[293]
The highest of years of schooling among Muslim-majority countries found in Uzbekistan (11.5), Kuwait (11.0) and Kazakhstan (10.7).[293] In addition, the average of years of schooling in countries in which Muslims are the majority is 6.0 years of schooling, which lag behind the global average (7.7 years of schooling).[293] In the youngest age (25–34) group surveyed, Young Muslims have the lowest average levels of education of any major religious group, with an average of 6.7 years of schooling, which lag behind the global average (8.6 years of schooling).[293] The study found that Muslims have a significant amount of gender inequality in educational attainment, since Muslim women have an average of 4.9 years of schooling, compared to an average of 6.4 years of schooling among Muslim men.[293]
According to the UNHCR, Muslim-majority countries hosted 18 million refugees by the end of 2010.[citation needed]
Since then Muslim-majority countries have absorbed refugees from recent conflicts, including the uprising in Syria.[294] In July 2013, the UN stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 1.8 million.[295]
In Asia, an estimated 625,000 refugees from Rakhine, Myanmar, mostly Muslim, had crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 2017.[296]
Culture
Throughout history, Muslim cultures have been diverse ethnically, linguistically and regionally.[297] According to M. M. Knight, this diversity includes diversity in beliefs, interpretations and practices and communities and interests. Knight says perception of Muslim world among non-Muslims is usually supported through introductory literature about Islam, mostly present a version as per scriptural view which would include some prescriptive literature and abstracts of history as per authors own point of views, to which even many Muslims might agree, but that necessarily would not reflect Islam as lived on the ground, 'in the experience of real human bodies'.[298]
The term "Islamic art and architecture" denotes the works of art and architecture produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic populations.[299][300]
Architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic area historically ranging from western Africa and Europe to eastern Asia. Certain commonalities are shared by Islamic architectural styles across all these regions, but over time different regions developed their own styles according to local materials and techniques, local dynasties and patrons, different regional centers of artistic production, and sometimes different religious affiliations.[301][302]
No Islamic visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist because it is believed that such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry. Muslims describe God by the names and attributes that, according to Islam, he revealed to his creation. All but one sura of the Quran begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful". Images of Mohammed are likewise prohibited. Such aniconism and iconoclasm[309] can also be found in Jewish and some Christian theology.
Islamic art frequently adopts the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as arabesque. Such designs are highly nonrepresentational, as Islam forbids representational depictions as found in pre-Islamic pagan religions. Despite this, there is a presence of depictional art in some Muslim societies, notably the miniature style made famous in Persia and under the Ottoman Empire which featured paintings of people and animals, and also depictions of Quranic stories and Islamic traditional narratives. Another reason why Islamic art is usually abstract is to symbolize the transcendence, indivisible and infinite nature of God, an objective achieved by arabesque.[310]Islamic calligraphy is an omnipresent decoration in Islamic art, and is usually expressed in the form of Quranic verses. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh scripts, which can be found adorning the walls and domes of mosques, the sides of minbars, and so on.[310]
Distinguishing motifs of Islamic architecture have always been ordered repetition, radiating structures, and rhythmic, metric patterns. In this respect, fractal geometry has been a key utility, especially for mosques and palaces. Other features employed as motifs include columns, piers and arches, organized and interwoven with alternating sequences of niches and colonnettes.[311] The role of domes in Islamic architecture has been considerable. Its usage spans centuries, first appearing in 691 with the construction of the Dome of the Rock mosque, and recurring even up until the 17th century with the Taj Mahal. And as late as the 19th century, Islamic domes had been incorporated into European architecture.[312]
Girih decoration is believed to have been inspired by Syrian Roman knotwork patterns from the second century. The earliest girih dates from around 1000 CE, and the artform flourished until the 15th century. Girih patterns can be created in a variety of ways, including the traditional straightedge and compass construction; the construction of a grid of polygons; and the use of a set of girih tiles with lines drawn on them: the lines form the pattern. Patterns may be elaborated by the use of two levels of design, as at the 1453 Darb-e Imam shrine. Square repeating units of known patterns can be copied as templates, and historic pattern books may have been intended for use in this way.
The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Qur'an; chapters and excerpts from the Qur'an are a common and almost universal text upon which Islamic calligraphy is based. Although artistic depictions of people and animals are not explicitly forbidden by the Qur'an, pictures have traditionally been limited in Islamic books in order to avoid idolatry. Although some scholars dispute this, Kufic script was supposedly developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name. The style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and square kufic. In the ancient world, though, artists would often get around this prohibition by using strands of tiny writing to construct lines and images. Calligraphy was a valued art form, even as a moral good. An ancient Arabic proverb illustrates this point by emphatically stating that "Purity of writing is purity of the soul."[317]
However, Islamic calligraphy is not limited to strictly religious subjects, objects, or spaces. Like all Islamic art, it encompasses a diverse array of works created in a wide variety of contexts.[318] The prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art is not directly related to its non-figural tradition; rather, it reflects the centrality of the notion of writing and written text in Islam.[319] For instance, the Islamic prophet Muhammad is related to have said: "The first thing God created was the pen."[320]
Islamic calligraphy developed from two major styles: Kufic and Naskh. There are several variations of each, as well as regionally specific styles. Arabic or Persian calligraphy has also been incorporated into modern art, beginning with the post-colonial period in the Middle East, as well as the more recent style of calligraffiti.
Modern Islamic calligraphy representing various planets.
Calendar
Two calendars are used all over the Muslim world. One is a lunar calendar that is most widely used among Muslims. The other one is a solar calendar officially used in Iran and Afghanistan.
This calendar enumerates the Hijri era, whose epoch was established as the Islamic New Year in 622 CE.[321] During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina and established the first Muslim community (ummah), an event commemorated as the Hijrah. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, "in the year of the Hijrah").[b] In Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H[322] from its Arabic form (سَنَة هِجْرِيَّة, abbreviated ھ). In English, years prior to the Hijra are denoted as BH ("Before the Hijra").[323]
As of 30 July 2022[update] CE, the current Islamic year is 1444 AH. In the Gregorian calendar reckoning, 1444 AH runs from approximately 30 July 2022 to 18 July 2023.[324][325][c]
The Ancient Iran Solar calendar is one of the oldest calendars in the world, as well as the most accurate solar calendar in use today. Since the calendar uses astronomical calculation for determining the vernal equinox, it has no intrinsic error.[327][328][329][330] It is older than the Lunar Hijri calendar used by the majority of Muslims (known in the West as the Islamic calendar): the Hijrah, the journey of the Islamic prophetMuhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in the year 622.[331][332] Unlike the latter, its years are solar years rather than lunar years.
Each of the twelve months corresponds with a zodiac sign; their names are the same as ancient Zoroastrian names from the Zoroastrian calendar – in Afghanistan on the other hand, the names of the zodiacal signs are used instead. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in usual years but 30 days in leap years. The ancient Iranian New Year's Day, which is called Nowruz, always falls on the March equinox. While Nowruz is celebrated by communities in a wide range of countries from the Balkans to Mongolia, the Solar Hijri calendar itself remains only in official use in Iran and Afghanistan.
According to Riada Asimovic Akyol while Muslim women's experiences differs a lot by location and personal situations such as family upbringing, class and education;[333] the difference between culture and religions is often ignored by community and state leaders in many of the Muslim majority countries,[333] the key issue in the Muslim world regarding gender issues is that medieval religious texts constructed in highly patriarchal environments and based on biological essentialism are still valued highly in Islam; hence views emphasizing on men's superiority in unequal gender roles– are widespread among many conservative Muslims (men and women).[333] Orthodox Muslims often believe that rights and responsibilities of women in Islam are different than that of men and sacrosanct since assigned by the God.[333] According to Asma Barlas patriarchal behaviour among Muslims is based in an ideology which jumbles sexual and biological differences with gender dualisms and inequality. Modernist discourse of liberal progressive movements like Islamic feminism have been revisiting hermeneutics of feminism in Islam in terms of respect for Muslim women's lives and rights.[333]Riada Asimovic Akyol further says that equality for Muslim women needs to be achieved through self-criticism.[333]
^The constitution of Bangladesh declares Islam as the state religion, but also guarantees equal rights and treatment for other religions, and separation of government and religion.[153][154]
^Also taking religiously unaffiliated countries into account
^exact dates depend on which variant of the Islamic calendar is followed.
^Persian: گاهشماری خورشیدی, romanized: Gâhšomâri-ye Xoršidi; Pashto: لمريز لېږدیز کلیز, romanized: lamrez legdez kalhandara; Kurdish: ڕۆژژمێری کۆچیی ھەتاوی, romanized: Salnameya Koçberiyê. Also called in some English sources as Iranian Solar calendar.'[326]
^As of 2022, the calendar is officially no longer used by the government of Afghanistan after its switch to lunar.
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^Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture46 (1), pp. 1–30.
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^1906 Constitution of Imperial Iran: Article 1 – "The official religion of Persia is Islám, according to the orthodox Já'farí doctrine of the Ithna 'Ashariyya (Church of the Twelve Imáms), which faith 1 the Sháh of Persia must profess and promote."
^ abWilliam E. Shepard; FranÇois Burgat; James Piscatori; Armando Salvatore (2009). "Islamism". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195305135. The term "Islamism/Islamist" has come into increasing use in recent years to denote the views of those Muslims who claim that Islam, or more specifically, the Islamic sharīʿah, provides guidance for all areas of human life, individual and social, and who therefore call for an "Islamic State" or an "Islamic Order." [...] Today it is one of the recognized alternatives to "fundamentalist," along with "political Islam" in particular. [...] Current terminology usually distinguishes between "Islam," [...] and "Islamism," referring to the ideology of those who tend to signal openly, in politics, their Muslim religion. [...] the term has often acquired a quasi-criminal connotation close to that of political extremism, religious sectarianism, or bigotry. In Western mainstream media, "Islamists" are those who want to establish, preferably through violent means, an "Islamic state" or impose sharīʿah (Islamic religious law)—goals that are often perceived merely as a series of violations of human rights or the rights of women. In the Muslim world, insiders use the term as a positive reference. In the academic sphere, although it is still debated, the term designates a more complex phenomenon.
^Shepard, W. E. Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism: A Translation and Critical Analysis of Social Justice in Islam. Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill. (1996). p. 40
^Emin Poljarevic (2015). "Islamism". In Emad El-Din Shahin (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 February 2017. Islamism is one of many sociopolitical concepts continuously contested in scholarly literature. It is a neologism debated in both Muslim and non-Muslim public and academic contexts. The term "Islamism" at the very least represents a form of social and political activism, grounded in an idea that public and political life should be guided by a set of Islamic principles. In other words, Islamists are those who believe that Islam has an important role to play in organizing a Muslim-majority society and who seek to implement this belief.
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^ abcAnalysis (19 December 2011). "Global religious landscape"(PDF). Pewforum.org. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
^Khan, Nichola (2016). Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780190869786. ... With a population of over 23 million Karachi is also the world's largest Muslim city, the world's seventh largest conurbation ...
^Adrian Cybriwsky, Roman (2015). Global Happiness: A Guide to the Most Contented (and Discontented) Places around the Globe: A Guide to the Most Contented (and Discontented) Places around the Globe. ABC-CLIO. p. 179. ISBN9781440835575. Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan, the second-largest city in the world when "city" is defined by official municipal limits, the largest city in the Muslim world, and the world's seventh-largest metropolitan area.
^"Muslim-Majority Countries". The Future of the Global Muslim Population. Pew Research Center. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
^"The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity". Pew Research Center. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016. On the other hand, in Pakistan, where 6% of the survey respondents identify as Shia, Sunni attitudes are more mixed: 50% say Shias are Muslims, while 41% say they are not.
^Öz, Mustafa, Mezhepler Tarihi ve Terimleri Sözlüğü (The History of madh'habs and its terminology dictionary), Ensar Publications, Istanbul, 2011.
^J. Stewart, Dona (2008). The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives. Routledge. p. 33. ISBN9781135980795. Most Druze do not consider themselves Muslim. Historically they faced much persecution and keep their religious beliefs secrets.
^De McLaurin, Ronald (1979). The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East. Michigan University Press. p. 114. ISBN9780030525964. Theologically, one would have to conclude that the Druze are not Muslims. They do not accept the five pillars of Islam. In place of these principles the Druze have instituted the seven precepts noted above..
^C. Ellis, Kail (2017). Jews, Antisemitism, and the Middle East. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN9781351510721.
^Curtis, Michael (2018). Secular Nationalism and Citizenship in Muslim Countries: Arab Christians in the Levant. Springer. p. 11. ISBN9781351510721. Christian contributions to art, culture, and literature in the Arab-Islamic world; Christian contributions education and social advancement in the region.
^A. Youssef, Adly; Thomas, Martyn (2006). Copts in Egypt: A Christian Minority Under Siege: Papers Presented at the First International Coptic Symposium, Zurich, September 23-25, 2004. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 85. ISBN9783857100406. There are some 30 million Christians who live in countries with Muslim majorities. The largest number live in Indonesia, some 15 million ...
^L. Elazar, Daniel (2020). Kinship and Consent: Jewish Political Tradition and Its Contemporary Uses. Routledge. ISBN9781000677782. Today Turkish Jewry remains the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world.
^C. Held, Colbert (2008). Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics. Routledge. p. 109. ISBN9780429962004. Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.
^Monshipouri, Mahmood (2011). Muslims in Global Politics: Identities, Interests, and Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 73. ISBN9780812202830.
^L. Elazar, Daniel (2020). Kinship and Consent: Jewish Political Tradition and Its Contemporary Uses. Routledge. ISBN9781000677782. Today Turkish Jewry remains the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world.
^Knight, Michael Muhammad (24 May 2016). Magic In Islam. Penguin. pp. Chapter 1. ISBN978-1-101-98349-2. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
^Petersen 1996, p. 295 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPetersen1996 (help): "As the Arabs did not have an architectural tradition suited to the needs of a great empire, they adopted the building methods of the defeated Sassanian and Byzantine empires. Because they ruled from Syria, Byzantine influence was stronger, although Sassanian elements became increasingly important."
^M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Architecture". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. pp. 74, 78. ISBN9780195309911. Although Syria remained the center of the Islamic empire for less than 90 years, its role in the development of Islamic architecture was crucial. The region's own ancient civilization, unified and transformed by Hellenization and overlaid with Roman and Christian elements, provided the basis for the new architectural style. The forms and conventions of Classical architecture were better understood in Syria than in the lands further east, and as a result some of the vocabulary of Umayyad architecture—of column and capital, pointed arch and dome, rib and vault—is familiar to a Western observer. These traditions declined in importance, however, as Muslim builders began to adopt the architectural styles of the newly conquered lands to the east—in Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asia and even India. (...) The Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, founded in 749, ruled most of the Islamic lands from capital cities in Iraq during a golden age that lasted at least until the end of the 9th century. New styles of architecture were characterized by forms, techniques and motifs of Iraqi and Iranian origin. Some features of these styles, such as brick vaults and stucco renderings, had already appeared in buildings erected late in the Umayyad period (661–c. 750; see §III above), but they became increasingly widespread as a result of the power and prestige of the Abbasid court. In the Islamic lands around the Mediterranean, Late Antique traditions of stone construction roofed with wood continued, although new techniques and styles were eventually introduced from Iraq.
^Grabar, Oleg (2011). "Art and Culture in the Islamic World". In Hattstein, Markus; Delius, Peter (eds.). Islam: Art and Architecture. h.f.ullmann. pp. 36–37. ISBN9783848003808. At this stage of scholarly knowledge, however, it is probably fair to say that Islam's Arabian past, essential for understanding the faith and its practices, and the Arabic language and its literature, is not as important for the forms used by Islamic art as the immensely richer world, from the Atlantic Ocean to Central Asia, taken over by Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries. Even later, after centuries of independent growth, new conquests in Anatolia or India continued to bring new local themes and ideas into the mainstream of Islamic art.
^Flood & Necipoğlu 2017, p. 30, Frameworks of Islamic Art and Architectural History: Concepts, Approaches, and Historiographies harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFloodNecipoğlu2017 (help): "Thus, it is increasingly being recognized that the mutual Roman–Byzantine architectural heritage of the Mediterranean, which had played an important role in the formation of early Islamic art, continued to mediate the shared histories of European and Islamic art long after the medieval period."
^Bloom & Blair 2009, Ch.s "Architecture", "Ornament and pattern". sfn error: no target: CITEREFBloomBlair2009 (help)
^"Muslim Iconoclasm". Encyclopedia of the Orient. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
^Tonna, Jo (1990). "The Poetics of Arab-Islamic Architecture", Muqarnas BRILL, 7, pp. 182–97
^Grabar, Oleg (2006), "Islamic art and beyond". Ashgate. Vol 2, p. 87
^Bonner, Jay (2017). Islamic geometric patterns : their historical development and traditional methods of construction. New York: Springer. p. 579. ISBN978-1-4419-0216-0. OCLC1001744138.
^Blair, Sheila S.; Bloom, Jonathan M. (1995). The art and architecture of Islam : 1250–1800 (Reprinted with corrections ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-06465-9.
^Chapman, Caroline (2012). Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, ISBN978-979-099-631-1
^Blair, Sheila S. (Spring 2003). "The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field". The Art Bulletin. 85: 152–184 – via JSTOR.
^Allen, Terry (1988). Five Essays on Islamic Art. Sebastopol, CA: Solipsist Press. pp. 17–37. ISBN0944940005.
^Roxburgh, David J. (2008). ""The Eye is Favored for Seeing the Writing's Form": On the Sensual and the Sensuous in Islamic Calligraphy". Muqarnas. 25: 275–298 – via JSTOR.
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