Islamic world
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What is the Islamic world?
The Islamic world is a diverse collection of societies and cultures globally where Muslims and their faith have a strong presence. It includes around 30 to 40 countries stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, across northern Africa, into Central Asia, and south into the Indian subcontinent.
Despite not having unified Islamic political entities, Islam continues to expand. The term Islamic describes aspects of the religion, Muslim refers to its adherents, and Islamicate encompasses the social and cultural context historically linked to Islam, including non-Muslims. The expansion of Islam occurred in two periods: the first involved Arab conquests and assimilation, while the second was driven by Sufi missionaries, who often integrated local customs.
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Where is the Islamic world located?
The Islamic world is a complex of societies and cultures where Muslims and their faith are prevalent and socially dominant. Geographically, Muslims predominate in about 30 to 40 countries, stretching from the Atlantic eastward to the Pacific, across northern Africa into Central Asia, and south to the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Islam's expansion occurred through various means, including military conquest, Sufi missionary activity, and the influence of Muslim traders. This expansion has resulted in a diverse array of races and cultures within the Islamic world, bound by a shared faith and a sense of belonging to a single community, the ummah.
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Which countries are considered part of the Islamic world?
The Islamic world encompasses diverse societies and cultures where Muslims and their faith have a strong presence. It spans about 30 to 40 countries from the Atlantic to the Pacific, across northern Africa into Central Asia, and south into the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Many countries have a majority-Muslim population or a significant Muslim presence, including:
* Afghanistan
* Algeria
* Egypt
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Malaysia
* Morocco
* Pakistan
* The GambiaThe Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was established in 1971 to promote Islamic solidarity through social, economic, scientific, and cultural coordination.
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What are the main beliefs and practices in the Islamic world?
The religion of Islam, which means "surrender," emphasizes the importance of submitting to Allah, the one God. This submission is demonstrated through core beliefs and practices.
The main practices of Islam are known as the Five Pillars:
* Shahādah: A declaration of faith.
* Salat: Performing ritual prayers five times daily.
* Zakat: Giving alms to the needy.
* Sawm: Fasting during Ramadan.
* Hajj: Making a pilgrimage to Mecca.The Qurʾān, Islam's holy book, is believed to contain the direct words of God revealed to Muhammad and serves as the primary source for Islamic law and guidance. The Sunnah, which includes the words and actions of Muhammad, is another source of guidance for Muslims.
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How has the Islamic world influenced science, art, and culture?
The Islamic world has significantly influenced science, art, and culture. Inspired by their new religion, the Arabs translated and assimilated ancient Greek medicine, astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and philosophy by the 9th century. They constructed astronomical observatories and created algebra.
Islamic art's distinguishing feature is calligraphy, where the word is a medium of divine revelation. The arabesque, with its geometric and organic forms, is a typical expression of Muslim art. Islamic poetry and fine arts use fixed images that can only be interpreted by those knowledgeable in the art.
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How are different cultures and traditions expressed in the Islamic world today?
Today, the Islamic world reflects a vibrant mix of cultures and traditions expressed through diverse art forms, architecture, music, and poetry. Islamic architecture, especially that of mosques, showcases cultural diversity while highlighting the unifying concept of Islamic monotheism.
Music blends pre-Islamic Arabian traditions with Persian, Byzantine, and Turkish influences, characterized by improvisation within the framework of maqāmāt, which are melodic patterns with emotional and philosophical meanings. While representational art is generally avoided, calligraphy and arabesque designs flourish, with the word serving as a divine revelation.
Poetry, central to early Arab culture, maintains its importance, with forms ranging from praise to elegies, though often stylized and symbolic. Regional diversity is evident, with local customs and beliefs integrated, particularly in areas influenced by Sufi missionaries. This rich cultural tapestry reflects both a shared Islamic identity and unique regional expressions.
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Islamic world, the complex of societies and cultures in which Muslims and their faith have been prevalent and socially dominant.
Adherence to Islam is a global phenomenon: Muslims predominate in some 30 to 40 countries, from the Atlantic eastward to the Pacific and along a belt that stretches across northern Africa into Central Asia and south to the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. Arabs account for fewer than one-fifth of all Muslims, more than half of whom live east of Karachi, Pakistan. Despite the absence of large-scale Islamic political entities, the Islamic faith continues to expand, by some estimates faster than any other major religion.
The Muslim religion and the life of the Prophet Muhammad are treated specifically in the article Islam. The literature, music, dance, and visual arts of Muslim peoples are treated in the article Islamic arts. Islam is also discussed in articles on individual countries or on regions in which the religion is a factor, such as Egypt, Iran, Arabia, and North Africa. See articles on individual branches or sects and concepts—for example, Islam, Nation of; Sunni; Shiʿi; Hadith.
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A very broad perspective is required to explain the history of today’s Islamic world. This approach must enlarge upon conventional political or dynastic divisions to draw a comprehensive picture of the stages by which successive Muslim communities, throughout Islam’s 14 centuries, encountered and incorporated new peoples so as to produce an international religion and civilization.
In general, events referred to in this article are dated according to the Gregorian calendar, and eras are designated bce (before the Common Era or Christian Era) and ce (Common Era or Christian Era), terms which are equivalent to bc (before Christ) and ad (Latin: anno Domini). In some cases the Muslim reckoning of the Islamic era is used, indicated by ah (Latin: anno Hegirae). The Islamic era begins with the date of Muhammad’s migration (Hijrah) to Medina, which corresponds to July 16, 622 ce, in the Gregorian calendar.
In what follows, the terms Islamic world and Islamdom are used interchangeably. The term Islamic describes aspects pertaining to Islam as a religion, while Muslim as an adjective describes aspects pertaining to Islam’s adherents. The term Islamicate refers to the social and cultural complex that is historically associated with Islam and the Muslims, including the function and participation of non-Islamic and non-Muslim individuals and groups within that complex.
Prehistory (c. 3000 bce–500 ce)
The prehistory of Islamdom is the history of central Afro-Eurasia from Hammurabi of Babylon to the Achaemenid Cyrus II in Persia to Alexander the Great to the Sāsānian emperor Anūshirvan to Muhammad in Arabia; or, in a Muslim view, from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad. The potential for Muslim empire building was established with the rise of the earliest civilizations in western Asia. It was refined with the emergence and spread of what have been called the region’s Axial Age religions—Abrahamic, centred on the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, and Mazdean, focused on the Iranian deity Ahura Mazdā—and their later relative, Christianity. It was facilitated by the expansion of trade from eastern Asia to the Mediterranean and by the political changes thus effected. The Muslims were heirs to the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Hebrews, even the Greeks and Indians; the societies they created bridged time and space, from ancient to modern and from east to west.
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The rise of agrarian-based citied societies
In the 7th century ce a coalition of Arab groups, some sedentary and some migratory, inside and outside the Arabian Peninsula, seized political and fiscal control in western Asia, specifically of the lands between the Nile and Oxus (Amu Darya) rivers—territory formerly controlled by the Byzantines in the west and the Sāsānians in the east. The factors that surrounded and directed their accomplishment had begun to coalesce long before, with the emergence of agrarian-based citied societies in western Asia in the 4th millennium bce. The rise of complex agrarian-based societies, such as Sumer, out of a subsistence agricultural and pastoralist environment, involved the founding of cities, the extension of citied power over surrounding villages, and the interaction of both with pastoralists.
This type of social organization offered new possibilities. Agricultural production and intercity trading, particularly in luxury goods, increased. Some individuals were able to take advantage of the manual labour of others to amass enough wealth to patronize a wide range of arts and crafts; of these, a few were able to establish territorial monarchies and foster religious institutions with wider appeal. Gradually the familiar troika of court, temple, and market emerged. The new ruling groups cultivated skills for administering and integrating non-kin-related groups. They benefited from the increased use of writing and, in many cases, from the adoption of a single writing system, such as the cuneiform, for administrative use. New institutions, such as coinage, territorial deities, royal priesthoods, and standing armies, further enhanced their power.
In such town-and-country complexes the pace of change quickened enough so that a well-placed individual might see the effects of his actions in his own lifetime and be stimulated to self-criticism and moral reflection of an unprecedented sort. The religion of these new social entities reflected and supported the new social environments. Unlike the religions of small groups, the religions of complex societies focused on deities, such as Marduk, Isis, or Mithra, whose appeal was not limited to one small area or group and whose powers were much less fragmented. The relationship of earthly existence to the afterlife became more problematic, as evidenced by the elaborate death rites of pharaonic Egypt. Individual religious action began to compete with communal worship and ritual; sometimes it promised spiritual transformation and transcendence of a new sort, as illustrated in the pan-Mediterranean mystery religions. Yet large-scale organization had introduced social and economic injustices that rulers and religions could address but not resolve. To many, an absolute ruler uniting a plurality of ethnic, religious, and interest groups offered the best hope of justice.