Hugh Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, 2001. The struggle with the Sassanid realm had opened in 687 at al-Qadisiyah, near Ctesiphon in Iraq, where Muslim cavalry had successfully coped with elephants used by the Persians as a kind of primitive tank. Psychologists warn that addressing the mental scars caused by the earthquakes should be an urgent priority and that the most severe mental health consequences might not be fully apparent so soon . Thereunto we give them the pact of Allah and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. Photo: Cursive script on a section of gold-embroidered kiswah, the black cloth covering of the Ka'bah, which is renewed each year at the time of the pilgrimage. According to one account, he entered the city alone and clad in a simple cloak, astounding a populace accustomed to the sumptuous garb and court ceremonials of the Byzantines and Persians. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. By defeating Egypt, then still part of the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon exposed the inner weaknesses, both military and administrative, of the sultans, shattered the myth of Ottoman power, and inaugurated more than 150 years of direct political intervention by the West. Passages of impassioned beauty are no less common than vigorous narratives. It is both odd and poignant that it was then, in the last two centuries of their rule, that the Arabs created that extravagantly lovely kingdom for which they are most famous: Granada. With the shift to Damascus much was changed. As British efforts to control it generated widespread disapproval in the West and stimulated underground warfare by militant Zionist units against British forces, Britain eventually placed the problem in the hands of the United Nations, which in 1947 voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab States. Alerted by a chain of signal fires stretching from Iraq to Egypt, the Mamluks were able to marshal their forces in time to meet, and crush, the Mongols at 'Ayn Jalut near Nazareth in Palestine. Herzl's writings and personal advocacy led to the formal development of Zionism, a political movement dedicated to the creation of such a state, and eventually focusing on Palestine. Fortunately the community immediately chose the Prophet's close companion and father-in-Law Abu Bakr, as his successor. Followers of Islam joined together against European invaders to defend their way life. Life section is all about Society, Art, Culture, History, Sports, Food, Music and much more. In the Arabian Peninsula the Ottomans penetrate to al-Hasa on the Arabian Gulf and to Mocha on the Red Sea. The Merciful, the Compassionate; Some sultans later regained power through political maneuvering and by playing off factions against one another, but as a result administration was paralyzed. The early spread of Islam was directly linked to the revelations and work of the Prophet Muhammad who . In the years following 861, the Turks made and unmade rulers at will, a trend that accelerated the decline of the central authority. 'Uthman achieved much during his reign. This spread of Islamic culture was facilitated . Members of the two sects have co-existed for centuries and share many fundamental beliefs and practices. By promising aid - and ultimate independence from the Ottomans - Great Britain encouraged the Arabs to launch a daring guerrilla campaign against Turkish forces, a campaign widely publicized in press coverage of T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and in Lawrence's own writings. After donning the ihram dress, the pilgrims may enter the haram, the sacred precinct surrounding Mecca, and then Mecca itself, where they perform the tawaf - the circling of the Ka'bah - and the sa'y - the running between two hills at al-Mas'a in Mecca. Photo: A fourteenth-century manuscript of a pharmaceutical text. The Quran is divided into 114 surahs, or chapters, and the surahs are conventionally assigned to two broad categories: those revealed at Mecca and those revealed at Medina. It is a simple statement, yet also profound, for in it a Muslim expresses his complete acceptance of, and total commitment to, the message of Islam. Forty-five years later, they are expected to make up more than three-in-ten of the world's people . 'Uthman's relatives - in particular Mu'awiyah, the powerful governor of Syria, where 'Ali's election had not been recognized - believed 'Ali's caliphate was invalid because his election had been supported by those responsible for 'Uthman's unavenged death. In addition, all Muslims are encouraged to make voluntary contributions to the needy called sadaqah. This was one of the most significant events in the history of ideas. Muhammad's Mission and Campaigns. Despite the great mass of words, the full explanation for Muslim victory still eludes us. Called the Five Pillars of Islam, they are: the profession of faith (shahadah), devotional worship or prayer (salah), the religious tax (zakah), fasting (sawm), and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). The Venetians and Genoese established trading colonies in Egypt, and luxury goods of the East found their way to European markets. Islam had a great impact on the culture of North Africa. Photo: The peak of Mogul architecture and possibly the most famous work of all times and cultures is the dazzling Taj Mahal mausoleum built at Agra in 1629. There were, however, some positive accomplishments in this period, such as the Hijaz Railway. This is not really a type of script in itself but consists of a text in one of the standard scripts such as naskhi worked into a pattern in which one half is a mirror image of the other. Your post is really informative and I really like your work. Since the invention of printing from type, however, calligraphy (which means, literally "beautiful writing") has come to be used in English and the other European languages only for special documents and on special occasions and has declined to the status of a relatively minor art. These territorial acquisitions brought the Arabs into contact with previously unknown ethnic groups who embraced Islam and would later influence the course of Islamic history. Turkish tribes, driven from their homeland in the steppes of Central Asia by the Mongols, had embraced Islam and settled in Anatolia on the battle lines of the Islamic world, where they formed the Ottoman confederation. In addition to their military abilities the Turks seem to have been endowed with a special talent for organization. The tawaf of the return is the last essential devotion of the pilgrimage; now the pilgrims have become hajjis - those who have completed the hajj. Islam spread from the Middle East to take hold across North Africa during the second half of the 7th century CE when the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE) . Everything under IslamiCity is categorized under the major hubs you see in this panel. The surahs themselves are of varying length, ranging from the longest, Surah 2, with 282 verses, to the shortest, Surahs 103, 108, and 110, each of which has only three. But then, in 1380, a new Turko-Mongol confederation was hammered together by another world conqueror: Tamerlane, who claimed descent from Genghis Khan. The Arabic term islm, literally "surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islamthat the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islm) accepts surrender to the will of Allah (in Arabic, Allh: God). Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last in a line of prophets that includes Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and that the Quran is the . The traditional cloths were wool and linen - the latter an Egyptian specialty since ancient times - but cotton, which was introduced into upper Iraq about the time of the Prophet, later spread with Islam around the Mediterranean, to Syria, North Africa, Spain, Sicily, Cyprus, and Crete. On January 8, the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted the launch of a report titled "Islam as Statecraft: How governments use religion in foreign policy," authored by two senior . The second caliph, 'Umar- appointed by Abu Bakr in a written testament - continued to demonstrate that viability. Architectural monuments spanning a thousand years bear witness to the spread of Islam. In 1187 Saladin counterattacked, eventually recapturing Jerusalem. Here ornamental kufic is used on a Quranic page that typifies the marriage of calligraphy and illumination, an art that reached its zenith in the fourteenth century. The conflict over Palestine actually goes back to 1896, when Theodor Herzl published a pamphlet called Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish State"), in which he advocated British-backed Jewish colonization in Argentina or Palestine - with the hope of eventually creating a sovereign Jewish state. As Jewish forces were victorious - and as stories spread that some 250 Arab civilians had been massacred in a village called Deir Yassin - thousands of Palestinians fled, among the first of today's 3.4 million refugees and exiles. Abu Bakr was known as the first caliph (from khalifa, the Arabic for successor). The most stable of the successor dynasties founded in the ninth and tenth centuries was that of the Fatimids, a branch of Shi'is. As a result, Granada fell ten years later. Assembling an army of three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside Medina. Guide us in the straight path, Although unable to fend off the Crusaders at first - even offering the Crusaders access to Jerusalem if they would come as pilgrims rather than invaders - the Muslims eventually began to mount effective counterattacks. The first known medical work to include anatomical drawings, the book was translated into Latin and for centuries was the authoritative treatment of the subject in both Western and Eastern universities. Each of these men, all exceptional scholars, wrote or dictated long and learned commentaries upon which their schools of law were founded. Photo: Devout Muslims from all over the world gather for the pilgrimage to Mecca, for nearly fourteen centuries one of the most impressive religious gatherings in the world. Only one man of importance escaped the disaster - 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiyah al-Dakhil, a young prince who with a loyal servant fled to Spain and in 756 set up an Umayyad Dynasty there. Islam has given us education with knowledge which has no limits. An important part of this framework was the millet system - essentially a division of the empire into a communal system based upon religious affiliation. A third important factor was the establishment in Baghdad of a paper mill. Muslim Heritage - Al-Qayrawan, seat of Arab governors founded in 670, Muslim Heritage - Umayyad Coins (661-750CE). The Banu Musa also contributed works on celestial mechanics and the atom, helped with such practical projects as canal construction, and in addition recruited one of the greatest of the ninth-century scholars, Thabit ibn Qurrah. The Ridda Wars ended around 634. Muslim traders, consequently, established trading posts as far away as India, the Philippines, Malaya, the East Indies, and China. The surahs revealed at Mecca - at the beginning of Muhammad's mission - tend to be short and to stress, in highly moving language, the eternal themes of the unity of God, the necessity of faith, the punishment of those who stray from the right path, and the Last Judgment, when all man's actions and beliefs will be judged. It was by no means theoretical speculation; many of the dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts constructed at this time throughout the Islamic world still survive. During this period scribes began the modification of the original thick and heavy kufic script into the form employed today for decorative purposes, as well as developing a number of new scripts derived from the more cursive naskhi. In some ways the 'Abbasids were more fortunate than the Umayyads. Another significant difference is that the Arabic script has been used much more extensively for decoration and as a means of artistic expression. Simply put, Islam may have sped the conquests, but it also showed much greater staying power. There, at the Battle of Tours, or Poitiers, the Arabs were finally turned back by Charles Martel. As Abu Bakr put it: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.". To avoid contention among various groups, 'Umar suddenly grasped Abu Bakr's hand, the traditional sign of recognition of a new leader. One of the main distinctions between the hajj and the 'umrah is that the 'umrah can be done at any time of the year, while the hajj must be performed on specified dates. But their opponents also had firm ideological commitments and there is no reason to assume that individuals were likely to be any less brave. As scientific research and translation of medical texts from India and possibly even China expanded the earlier pharmacopoeia, ingredients for medicines were brought from all over the known world and also reexported. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Closely connected with the trade in dyestuffs was the trade in medicines, an offshoot of 'Abbasid advances in medicine and the spread of hospitals in all major Islamic cities. Photo: The Crusader castle at Sidon in Lebanon was abandoned after the final defeat of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Our themes mostly focus on the universal values such as compassion, patience, love and so on. It is therefore understandable that many observers predict the rapid decay of Islamic influence in the Middle East. Indeed, the Quran is the cornerstone on which the edifice of Islamic civilization has been built. An exemplary leader, he lived simply, assiduously fulfilled his religious obligations, and was accessible and sympathetic to his people. Master of the Day of Judgment; The path of those whom Thou hast favored; not the path of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray. The latter impact manifests today because there is a lot of animosity between Christians and Muslims (especially in the Middle East). Then, in his forties he began to retire to meditate in a cave on Mount Hira outside of Mecca, where the first of the great events of Islam took place. Thank you so much for sharing great info :). The volunteers - a mixed assemblage of kings, nobles, mercenaries, and adventurers - had to cross thousands of miles of unfamiliar and hostile country and conquer lands of whose strength they had no conception. This is great article. The third day of the pilgrimage, back at Mina, they enact a repudiation of evil by throwing the pebbles at a pillar held by many to represent Satan. Photo: Golden domes and gold topped minarets highlight the mosque of al-Kazimayn in Baghdad, built in the early sixteenth century. Like all Islamic ceremonies, prayer is simple and personal, yet also communal, and the wording of the prayers, the ablutions which are required before prayers, the number of bows, and other parts of the ritual are set out in detail. As Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula and later across North Africa and the Middle East, it had an aggregating effect. Middle East in the 6th Century CE. In medicine they experimented with diet, drugs, surgery, and anatomy, and in chemistry, an outgrowth of alchemy, isolated and studied a wide variety of minerals and compounds. Established by the prophet Muhammad, the religion of Islam unified a diverse cultural region that spans several countries. 'Uthman also, through his cousin Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria, established an Arab navy which fought a series of important engagements with the Byzantines. Photo: The diwani script (top) and the so called "royal" diwani (below) were developed by Ottoman calligraphers for use on state documents. The generous terms that the invading armies usually offered made their faith accessible to the conquered populations. About the year 590, Muhammad, then in his twenties, entered the service of a widow named Khadijah as a merchant actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. A year later, in 629, he reentered and, in effect, conquered Mecca without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance which established an ideal for future conquests. This tolerance was typical of Islam. A series of events took place in the Middle Ages, which changed the future, which impacted generations to generations . . He was noted for his justice, social ideals, administration, and statesmanship. Later, after Ibn al-Ahmar's death, Granada itself was rebuilt and became, as one Arab visitor wrote, "as a silver vase filled with emeralds. It was at this point in history that Tamerlane and his Mongols advanced into Anatolia and very nearly crushed the Ottomans forever. This tumultuous period also saw an increase in the influence of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East. Yet so great was their fervor that in 1099 they took Jerusalem, establishing along the way principalities in Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli. Christians and Jews, upon payment of a yearly tax, were allowed religious freedom and, while maintaining their status as non-Muslims, were associate members of the Muslim state. Even earlier, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon had broken their ties with Britain and France. Fighting then flared up in Palestine. Some of these states made important contributions to Islamic culture. Ijma' is the consensus of - qualified jurists on matters not specifically referred to in the Quran or the sunnah. Photo: A pillar marks the Mount of Mercy the rocky hill rising from the plain of Arafat. These struggles were later romanticized and distorted in a wave of books and films on, for example, Gordon of Khartoum and the French Foreign Legion. In the eighth century, however, they had a more convenient source: the works of Greek scientists stored in libraries in Constantinople and other centers of the Byzantine empire. Agricultural advances are also part of the Muslim legacy. Another unusual variation of calligraphy, not often used nowadays, is the style called muthanna (Arabic for "doubled"). The Muslim legacy included advances in technology too. He is the Most High, the All-Glorious. Although such internal conflict was by no means uncommon- the Christian kingdoms also warred incessantly among themselves- it did divert Muslim strength at a time when the Christians were beginning to negotiate strong alliances, form powerful armies, and launch the campaigns that would later bring an end to Arab rule. Eventually the United Nations negotiated a truce, but fighting became endemic and war broke out again in 1956, 1967, and 1973. Photo: The ruq'ah script is used for headlines and titles and is the everyday written script of most of the Arab world. As they grew in importance to the economy these craftsmen eventually organized themselves into mutual-benefit societies which in some ways were similar to later Western guilds and which offered many social services: lodging travelers, engaging in pious works such as caring for orphans, and endowing schools. When, for example, al-Mansur died in 775 after a reign of twenty years, his son, al-Mahdi, inherited a full treasury and an empire that was more devoted to trade than war. Realizing that the original message from God might be inadvertently distorted by textual variants, he appointed a committee to collect the canonical verses and destroy the variant recensions. Fasting is also an exercise in self-control and self-denial whereby one learns to appreciate the pangs of hunger that the poor often feel. Photo: The Great Mosque of the Umayyads in Damascus dates from the early eighth century and numerous works of rebuilding have not changed its fundamental character. The Arab Spring reignited a debate within the Middle East and in academic circles about the universality of human rights and their compatibility, or incompatibility, with culture and religion. The process that resulted in Swahili culture took several centuries. The term "Middle East" came into common use in the early . Asia is home of 65 percent of the world's Muslims, and Indonesia, in Southeast, is the world's most populous Muslim country. 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