Slavic Civilization and Islam - Term Paper Example

? Slavic Civilization Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert The spread of Islam started much later after the death of prophet Mohamed. Many factors contributed to this spread. First, it is believed that Islam began to spread after a lot of military struggle with the people the Muslims met. It is also believed that many believers were converted into Islam community basically due to the Muslims’ way of life. The fact that they were well organized in the manner in which they carried themselves gave a positive impression, which the believers wished to emulate. This gave them a solid ground and an opportunity to win more souls. This essay therefore aims at looking at the spread of Islam in the Balkans gauging the period from which Islam began to have rather a strong impact on the Slavic in the Balkan. It is therefore very difficult to speak about Islam in various parts of Europe and Asia without reflecting on a brief history of the spread of the Slavic people. The Slavic are an Indo-European speaking people who migrated to various parts of Europe. Presently, they occupy various parts of Central Europe, northern Europe, and southern Europe. They also occupy parts of central and northern parts of Asia. The word Slavic is a term derived from the word ‘slovo’,1 meaning- people who speak the same language. Originally, the term Slavic was used to refer to a people who had common language or culture. The Slavic speaking people are believed to have originated from somewhere in Danube River as shown by that term. The people they were exposed to when they were travelling regarded the Slavonic people as backward. One reason why they were viewed as primitive was because of the places they inhabited. Early historians believe that the Slavonic majorly inhabited swampy places and those places that were near rivers and lakes. The Slavonics were organized into groups and had no one ruler. They lived a democratic way of life in their social structure, each living in harmony with his neighbor2. They were monotheists, believing in one god, the god of lightning. They sacrificed to this god of lightning majorly cattle, of which they chose the best among what they had. Going by their description, the Slavonic were tall people, who were very hardy and mostly trounced their opponents in battle. Historically, whenever they went to battle against their opponents, they could engage them in a fierce battle, fighting unanimously. This was contrary to how they lived. They lived in isolation but they could approach battle as one, fighting a common enemy. Their mode of fighting was unique. They could role the helm of their trousers nearer to their private parts, and bare-chested. They did not have any problem in identifying themselves when in battle. They were almost similar in appearance given their gigantic nature and the way they shove their hair, almost blonde. Guided by the scriptural teachings of Koran, the Muslims took their mission to various parts of the world, including to the Slavic people. The Muslims believed that they had an obligation to defend their religion. This formed the basis of fighting to convert people to the new faith. They believed that it was their right; as Prophet Mohammed required that Islamic faith was to be guarded3. This could be the reason why they waged wars, wars they commonly called Jihad (holy war) before it lost its meaning. The Jihad war was waged just to protect the Islam religion from losing its influence. It was believed to be one way of ensuring that other rival religions especially Christians do not influence win over the already converted Muslims. The spread of Islam in Europe began with the imprisonment of one Muslim who much later was given a mandate to teach. He taught Islamic religion to many people who were later converted to Islam. It must be acknowledged that the spread of Islam did not take place effectively through war. People easily got converted voluntarily through teaching than when war was used. This explains why it was voluntary teaching that helped spread Islam not only in the Balkan Peninsula but also in other parts of the world. The Muslim entry into Balkan was met by a lot of resistance4. The Slavic nation was not willing to accept any foreign denomination. They thus fiercely resisted the Islamic invasion by fighting them. This was one thing common with the Slavic people. They adored war and were never willing to be influenced in any way by external forces. What remains a mystery was the way they came out to defend themselves against any attack yet they always lived far apart from each other. Another factor that steered the spread of Islamic culture and their religion was trade. Most of the Balkan’s states engaged in trade with most Asian countries way back before time immemorial. The trade enabled those who were trading to exchange their cultures. This is one possible reason why the Balkans was able to adopt Islamic religion since they found it to be so accommodating than the religion they had initially known. It gave them a lot of hope and confidence in God, whom they later believed to be one and the only true God. The compulsory payment of the personal tax was a factor that prompted many (especially non-Muslims) to adapt to the new faith in Europe. This was contrary to other regions in Asia where Islam had taken root. It is very important to speak about the spread of Islam with respect to Turkey as a nation where there is widespread influence of Islam in Europe. The Turkish, under Ottoman rule, highly valued the Islamic religion. The Ottoman upheld their culture in high esteem and would do anything to safeguard it5. Sultan, who was the top most authority, headed their culture or dynasty. Through ensuring the spread of Islam, the Jews and Christians could be allowed to serve in the army. The Ottoman organized the subjects in a uniform political, social and economic structure. The Sultan was highly valued. Being the highest in authority, the Sultan was revered as an agent of the Most High God whose work and authority was to defend the believers6. The Sultan was influential in his position and used three principles to enhance the spread of Islam and proper adherent to Islamic law, otherwise known as Shariet. These three principles included right for protection and conservation of Islam, to defend the power and everything that the Sultan‘s subjects owned. Lastly, the Sultan was to offer protection and justice to his subjects. This was in accordance with the Koran principles. As was mentioned, the dire need to spread Islamic religion formed the core objective for the Muslims. They strived to carry out their mission through being role models to the people they interacted with. Character wise, they tended to be docile, humble and accommodating than their Christian counterparts who chose to compulsory covert people7. In the process, they were able to convert many people to Islam in Turkey, Spain and various parts of Europe and the rest of the world. Islamic influence reached its peak when finally the Ottoman won victory over the Serbs and the Bulgars and the fierce crusaders. This ensured much stability since the Ottoman dynasty accommodated all faiths, and only ensured that conversation of one to Islam was done on a voluntary basis. The Ottoman rule ensured that little taxes were imposed on those who had refused to be converted to Christianity. This factor also increased people’s confidence in Islamic religion and culture. The Ottoman’s dynasty thus gave Islamic religion a channel through which it could be spread. Rising from a humble beginning, Islamic religion is now the second largest religion after Christianity. Muslims culture and religious doctrines borrows much from Christianity. This could explain why there was spontaneous spread of Islam culture and religion in the Balkan nations and the entire world. Some of the similarities that might have contributed to the spread of Islam was the fact that just like the Christians do, they believe in the true and one sublimely God even though their conceptualization of that God may be different. They hold on to the truth that God is only one and there is no other besides Him. This is one reason that has caused the polemic between the two religions, as the Christians believe in the trinity. Islam has come a long way from a religion little known to many especially in the outside world to what it is now. It commands a gathering in the entire world with most of the followers majorly found in Middle East. Islamic religious belief in togetherness helped unite them under their prophet Mohammed, historically and religiously believed to be the last prophet sent by God. This unifying factor played a significant role in ensuring the spread of Islam. While discussing the ottoman rule in the Balkans, it should be noted that there exists controversy over the cultural and religious spread and influence in Balkan. The main Balkans who were absorbed by the Ottoman rule stuck to their religion and culture and thus remained orthodox Christians to date. Islam culture and influence had little or no influence on them. A few that managed to be converted to Islam during and after the fall of Ottoman rule remain today a significant minority occupying major parts of Bulgaria and Macedonia, among other states. The Ottoman rule expanded rapidly at the time when it enjoyed quite a number of strong and able rulers. One thing notable about the spread of Islam is that it was highly spontaneous in most parts of Bosnia and the southern parts of Albania. This could explain a possible reason why the Turkish never really bothered to colonize these parts. Most historians and linguists have noted that only a few of the population living in these regions speak Turkish. This shows that Turkish influence has penetrated across many countries in Europe today including such places as Albania and Bosnia.8 The Ottoman heritage in the Balkan is however characterized by the increasing number of converts who now number about 6.5 million believers all believing in the orthodoxy of Sunism. Their growth in number was slow during the Ottoman rule as opposed to the time the Ottoman dynasty had collapsed. Many factors led to the collapse of the Ottoman conquest. First, there was dissatisfaction by the nationalists who felt that the Ottoman was oppressing them. This resulted into constant revolt by the nationals. Being a dynasty that depended solely on their overall ruler, the death of some of their strongest rulers caused a great division amongst them. The country was divided and scattered into smaller states thus weakening the strong force they initially had. The Ottoman leadership became so weak that they had no guts to defend themselves from any external or internal foe. They thus began to form alliances with other European nations and prominent people at that time such as the king of Sardinia in around 1828.9 Conversion of Islam in the Balkans became very successful thanks to the approach they gave to the Balkans. The Muslims gave the Balkans a calculative approach as if they had studied and known what best suited them. Being very humble people and accommodating, they took advantage of the locals who yearned for something new. Something they could not comprehend. What was even more impressive to the Balkans was the Islam’s’ dressing mannerism. Their mode of dressing was very unique and appealing to the Balkans who cherished women veils and how clothing was worn by men. Another tactic that gave the Muslims an upper hand in penetrating into the interior was the Ottoman’s dev Irme institution of leadership created by the Ottoman authorities in order to put a levy on every young male who had not been converted to Islamic religion.10 This was a way of ensuring that those who had not been converted to the new Islamic faith had no alternative but to practice the new faith in accordance to the requirements of the Muslim Quran. Children who had adopted the new faith were awarded and given promotions to serve in the army under ordinance of new name and faith. This saw many Christians convert to the new faith. Bibliography Devin De Weese, Devin. Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde. Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press, 1994. Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. London: Faber & Faber, 2002. Jonathan, Berkey. The Formation of Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Kamal, Muhammad. Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2006. Kayadibi, Saim. Ottoman Connections to the Malay World: Islam, Law and Society. Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2011. Kazemzadeh, Firuz. The Struggle for Transcaucasia: 1917-1921. New York: The New York Philosophical Library, 1951. Lapidus, Ira. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Nazeer, Ahmed. "Islam in Global History: From the Death of Prophet Muhammed to the First World War", Xlibris Corporation, December 1, 2000. Timothy, Savage. Europe and Islam: Crescent Waxing, Cultures Clashing, The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2004. http://www.twq.com/04summer/docs/04summer_savage.pd Read More