Major Events in the Muslim World - Essay Example

? Muslim World Introduction In a religious sense, the term Muslim world refers to the whole people who follow the teachings of Islam. From a modern geopolitical perspective, this term is used collectively to refer to Muslim-majority countries and regions. Muslims account for nearly 23.4% of the world population as of 2010. The history of the Muslim world can be dated back to 7th century where the Islamic prophet Muhammad delivered his first recitations in Arabia. The Islamic faith is emphasized as a religion as well as a social institution throughout the history of the Muslim world. During the period of Rashidun and Umayyads, the Caliphate grew quickly and the Muslim power expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Although the Islamic dominance on political issues has notably increased over the last century, intrusion of Western powers into Islamic regions and other international conflicts reduced the influence of Islam in the contemporary history. During the period between the early 15th and early 20th centuries, the history of the Muslim world is characterized with particular events, processes, and encounters. This paper will discuss some major events in the history of the Muslim world such as Sunni reform movement, fall of Granada, and the fall of Constantinople. Sunni Reform Movement Deobandi Movement, a popular Sunni reform movement is one of the major events that rewrote the entire history of the Muslim world. As Sankar and Mandal describe, the movement began in India as a reaction to the British colonial rule, and spread to the neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. which later came to be the hub of this movement (62). Very recently its waves have reached South Africa and the United Kingdom. The term Deobandi derived from Deoband, the place where Darul Uloom Deoband, a Sufi School started in the year 1866 is situated. However after the partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh from India, India lost its prominence and Pakistan and Afghanistan became prominent promoters of this movement. The overwhelming prominence of Deobandi movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan soon made its spread to the other parts of the world. History Sunni reform movement is believed to have its origin in Asian countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. However some say that the movement was first originated in India as a reaction to the British colonialists. Those who say that this movement is originated in India point that the Sufi school Darul Uloom Deoband, from which the term ‘Deobandi’ is derived, is situated in India. Nadwatul-Ulama Lucknow and Darul Uloom Karachi are two notable Hanafi seminaries of Deobandi Schools. However, the historians and Muslim scholars say that the movement was present in other neighboring countries of India at the same time. In this context it has to be noted that the founding fathers of Debandi Movement were very much influenced by the Wahabi Movement that was present in Saudi Arabia. The only difference between the Wahabis and the Deobandis is visible in their approach to Ashri and Maturidi creeds. While the latter ascribe to both the creeds, the former adhere only to the literal meaning of both the creeds. Currently the movement is spread across the world including South Africa and the United Kingdom. Though it reached these countries very recently, it has become very strong in these countries. Consider how it is growing in the UK. At present, over 600 of the total 1500 mosques here are under the control of Muslim scholars who favor Deobandi Teachings. Adding further, around 17 Islam seminaries; there are total 26 Islam seminaries in the UK, are following the same teaching. It means that more than 80 percent of the total domestically trained Ulema or Muslim scholars are trained to follow Deobandi doctrines. Spreading of Sunni movement Currently Sunni movement is present in many countries and continents including the United Kingdom, South Africa and Asia, the continent where it actually originated. Now it has become very strong and is present in many countries in the world including the United Kingdom and various countries in South Africa. However this movement is not known in the same name in all these countries. Though it is known differently, all these are holding some peculiar characteristics which make them stand united. Here we see some of the most important Sunni reform movements in the world. The presence of Deobandi in Afghanistan and Pakistan With the partition of Pakistan from India in 1947, many prominent Deobandi scholars including Mufti Mahmood, moved to Pakistan. Once he became the chief minister of North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan for a period of nine months in 1972, he paved the way for establishing huge numbers of Deobandi seminaries in Pakistan. With the impact of war against the Soviet Union, more numbers of Deobandi seminaries were enrolled in Pakistan, mainly due to the fact that these seminaries received state patronage, states a World Bank report. To gain support from the Deobandis, both Americans and Saudis also started financing them. This also boosted the growth of Deoband movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As Deoband movement got more prominent in Pakistan than in India, Pakistan-based Muslim Scholars like Akbar Zaidi claimed that the Deoband movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan has moved far away from that Indian movement. After the withdrawal of Soviet Union from Afghanistan, Deobandi remained vital base for the Taliban movement that ruled the country till 2001. As Alshamsi points out, a good percentage of Taliban Activists studied at Deobandi seminaries and they all were influenced and inspired by Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. However after the WTC attack on 9/ 11, the Saudi Islamic movement depicted the US-Saudi relation as harmful to the Saudi legitimacy (25). Wahhabi Movement in Saudi Arabia Wahhabi Movement is an ultra-conservative Sunni reform movement that was primarily instigated by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), an eighteenth century theologian from Najd, Saudi Arabia. It is considered as one of the most powerful Sunni reform movements in the world. The movement aims to return to Quran and Hadith, the earliest and primary Islamic sources. The promoters of this movement follow the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a renowned medieval Muslim theologian and an early jurist respectively. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, by convincing the local Amir, Uthman ibn Mu'ammar, gained popular support and began this movement through peaceful debates and discussions with attendees of different shrines. He stood against some of the widespread practices which the Muslims followed and advocated a popular purging of these practices which, for him were impurities and innovations that have crept into Islam. He was reported to be followed by some who were even extreme fundamentalists than him. These followers are alleged of massacring innocent Sunni Muslims. Whatsoever his fundamentalist teachings have become the most prominent one among the dominant forms of Islam in Saudi Arabia. The followers of this movement claim that they stick to Tawhid, a general Islamic doctrine understanding the correct sense of it. They argue that other Islamic groups who follow Tawhid, follow it but not with the correct understanding. Current scenario of Deobandi movement It was with the partition of India and Pakistan that the prominence of the Deobandi movement was shifted to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Since then it has been spreading to the countries outside Asia. Currently the movement is present in the United Kingdom and South Africa. As Puri points out, now the movement is shaking off the clutches of terrorism from it. The Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind Conference held on November 3, 2009 at Deoband can be sited as an example for this. The conference raised voice against the misinterpretation or incorrect use of “jihad” as a synonym for terrorism. The conference did not forget to condemn terrorism including suicide bombs and other attacks on simple and innocent people while arguing that it is incorrect to use the term in connection with terrorism. This was not the first conference. Prior to this, another conference was held in Deoband on February 25, 2008. This conference hosted by Darul Uloom was meant to be a platform for the Islamic scholars to debate the issue of terrorism. A fatwa (religious edict) was unanimously passed by the scholars who condemned all acts of terrorism in the name of Islam. These are cited only to show how the movement’s approach is being changed in the present day. The students at Darul Uloom are now being trained to answer the confronting questions related to right Islamic views. Fall of Granada The Battle of Granada was a series of military operations between the period 1482 and 1492 that led to the fall of Granada on 2nd January 1492. This war combinedly organized by the Catholic monarchs Isabella I of Castle and Ferdinand II of Aragon against the Emirate of Granada (Candelaria 31-33). During the time of the Granada war, the Emirate of Granada was a Muslim state in Al-Andalus. The war ended with the surrender of the Granada and it brought an end to the Islamic rule in the region. The forces of the Granada were led by Muhammad XII (Sultan Boabdil) of Granada. With the death of Emir Yusuf Ill in 1417, succession struggles became worse in Granada and hence this region was challenged by constant civil wars. The civil wars and other internal conflicts weakened the state’s economy. Despite a struggling economy, high tax rates were still imposed to meet the huge defense expenses and this situation contributed to the unpopularity of the Emir Abu-l-Hasan Ali. As a result of such problems, Granadans were in extreme anger against the ruling of the Emir. The War of the Castilian Success came to an end in 1479 with the victory of Isabella, half-sister of the King Henry IV. Since Isabella had married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, the victory of Isabella resulted in the union of two powerful kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (united as Spain recently). The forces of Castile and Aragon were greatly provoked by a surprise attack by Granada against Zahara that was in response to a Christian raid. The seizure of Alhama is considered to be the formal beginning of this war. Although Ferdinand II and Isabella I had not planned to conquer all parts of the Granada previously, Ferdinand decided to conquer this state entirely with the capture of King Boabdil. Although the Granada strongly fought against the Christians, the state was less powerful to gain victory over the combined forces of Castile and Aragon. In the Battle of Granada, Christian effectively used artillery to quickly conquer towns without much damage to their army. According to Hooper, The fall of Granada was marked to be the final event in the Reconquista, the campaign that had been conducted by the some Christian states of Spain to abolish Moors (p-.n a). The Castile provided bulk of troops and funds needed for the war and therefore the conquered region was annexed into the Castile’s premises. Followed by the fall of Granada, Jews and Muslims were expelled from the Spain although some of them remained in the country by accepting Christianity (Cohen 83). The converts’ descendants were also expelled from the Spain in 1609. In addition, the Muslim World lost the Alhambra palace, a beautiful Islamic architecture, as a result of the surrender of the Granada. In short, the fall of Granada was a marked loss in the history of the Muslim World. Fall of Constantinople The fall of Constantinople was the capture of the Constantinople city by the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of the 21 year old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. This siege was against the army led by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. Since Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire at the time of its capture, the fall of this great city brought an end to the Byzantine Empire. In addition, the fall of Constantinople marked the complete collapse of the Roman Empire, which had lasted for approximately 1,500 years (‘The Fall of Constantinople’). The siege lasted from 6th April 1453 to 19th May 1453. Historians point that the fall of Constantinople signaled that spread of the armies of Islam from Asia into Europe for the first time. After the capture of the Constantinople, Mehmed made the city the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. The city of Constantinople was founded to be the new imperial capital of Byzantine by the Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 330. Constantinople was a Christian city aimed to reflect the religious preference of the Emperor. The city remained to be the central point of imperial power even after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Although the Byzantine lost a notable portion of its territory in the Middle East after the emergence of Islam, the city stood as an impervious rock for the Muslim armies to break. Due to the rise of Islam and several other reasons, the Byzantine Empire lost much of its power and it became just a shadow of its former self by 15th century. The situations significantly changed when Mehmed II became the Ottoman Sultan in 1451. He was a brave and very determined person, who was only 19 years old when he took up the position. As Carlson describes, Mehmed immediately started new programs for his navy and designed some specific plans to conquer the city of Constantinople. As part of this plan, Mehmed took nearly 100,000-200,000 Ottoman army troops into the Byzantine territory and launched major attacks against the city on April 6. The city’s defense system alone, including over 12 miles of walls, was inadequate to confront with a highly planned and determined Ottoman assault. Both the Ottoman and Byzantine sides launched a series of attacks throughout April and May in order to gain an edge over the other (Carlson). When many Ottoman attacks were successfully defended by the city’s walls, Byzantine failed to expel Ottoman troops from its territory. Although a number of peace proposals were exchanged by both sides, they did not mutually agree on a proposal. Mehmed and his troops planned a major siege on 26th May and began necessary preparations. Mehmed’s troops included Janissaries (members of sultan’s armies who are kidnapped Christian boys trained for years) in order to deal with the final blow. In the early morning of 29th May, the Ottoman troops launched severe attacks on the Constantinople. When the city’s fighters tried their best to defend the Mehmed’s troops, Janissaries attacked the city and took control of the city walls by overwhelming the Byzantine soldiers. Constantine XI died in the final and gallant attack against the Ottoman troops. Following the fall of the city, its citizens were severely tortured by Ottomans. The Ottoman soldiers raped women and children and, looted houses and shops, and burned churches. Soon after the fall of the Constantinople, sultan proclaimed the city as his new capital and thus the Islam gained a strong presence in the Eastern Europe. The fall of Constantinople is of particular significance in the history of Islamic community because Islamic followers had perceived the city as the “focal point of resistance to their religion and their God” (Carlson). At this juncture, it is important to reflect on the reasons why Islam split into Sunni and Shias. Although many factors constitute the issue, mainly the split is over how leaders of the faith should be chosen. To be specific, who should be considered as the successor of Muhammad and what books should be taken as authoritative outside Quran were the major issues involved in this conflict. ‘The six major Hadith’ is the basis of the Sunnis which admits the authenticity of Abu Bakr Siddique, the elected successor of Muhammad. According to the Sunnis, Abu Bakr Siddique is the first caliph of Islam and hence they follow the Sunni canon of hadith. In contrast, Shias do not believe in the authenticity of the six major Hadith collections and the legitimacy of the first three "caliphs", for according to them, only Imams, the descendants of Muhammad are the only ones with special spiritual and political authority over the Islam. Conclusion In total, the history of Islam is rich with very intense events that evoked worldwide response very fast. The most recent events have raised numerous questions related to the real doctrine of Islam. However, despite such debatable issues, there are several points where all Islamic groups converge; all believe in one God and also admit the same concept of prophets, angels, heaven, destiny, and final judgment etc. Works Cited Alshamsi, M. J. Islam and Political Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Quest for Political Change and Reform. Taylor & Francis, 2010. Print. Candaleria, Lorenzo. The Rosary Cantoral: Ritual and Social Design in a Chantbook from Early Renaissance Toledo. University Rochester Press, 2008. Print. Cohen, Yehuda. The Spanish: Shadows of Embarrassment. Sussex Academic Press, 2012. Print. Carlson, Cody. “This week in history: The Fall of Constantinople had profound consequences”. Desert News, May 29 2013. Web 8 June http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865580842/This-week-in-history-The-Fall-of-Constantinople-had-profound-consequences.html?pg=all “The Fall of Constantinople”. Web 8 June 2013. http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/easteurope/fallconstantin.html Hooper, John. 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