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Sunni–Shi’a Split

Feb 23, 2016

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Sunni–Shi’a Split. The Sufi . Sought direct personal contact with God through mystical means m editation and chanting. Similar to Christian and Buddhist monks. Kept Muslims focused on the Qur’an and tradition. Active as missionaries. Changing Status of Women. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Page 1: Sunni–Shi’a Split
Page 2: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Sunni–Shi’a Split

Basic Differences Between Sunnis and Shi’a Muslims

Sunni Shi’a Believe that the first four caliphs were “rightly guided”

Believe that Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, should have succeeded Muhammad

Believe that Muslim rulersshould follow the Sunna, orMuhammad’s example

Believe that all Muslim rulers should be descended from Muhammad do not recognizethe authority of the Sunna

Claim that the Shi’a havedistorted the meaning ofvarious passages in the Qur’an

Claim that the Sunni havedistorted the meaning ofvarious passages in the Qur’an

Page 3: Sunni–Shi’a Split

The Sufi

• Sought direct personal contact with God through mystical means– meditation and chanting.

• Similar to Christian and Buddhist monks.

• Kept Muslims focused on the Qur’an and tradition. • Active as missionaries

Page 4: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Changing Status of Women

• Quran improves status of women– Outlawed female infanticide– Brides, not husbands, claim dowries– Women given control over their own property– Women were granted rights of inheritance, half the rate of

males– Marriage was considered a contract between consenting parties– Women could sue for divorce

• - Yet male dominance preserved– Patrilineal descent– Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden– Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice– “honor killings”– Negative images of women emerged

Page 5: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition

• Islamic values– Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam– Establishment of madrasas– Importance of the Hajj

• Sufi missionaries– Asceticism, mysticism– Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians– Wide popularity

Page 6: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Dar al-Islam as a World System

Dar al-Islam or the Abode of IslamNot based on economic activity

which is traditionally used to define a “world system”

Built on the shared traditions of all Muslimsthe Five Pillarsthe Qur’anHadiths and the ShariaArabic language

Page 7: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Factors that eased trade in the Muslim world

• Arabic as a common language• Muslim spread technology

– One-humped camel, saddle– Dhow: ship with lanteen (triangular shaped) sail– Cartography

• Hajj affected trade positively • Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus cooperated in trade together• Coins produced by governments made trade easier • 5 pillars: hospitality to travelers, annual hajj created regular

trade routes• Muslim government protected trade and property for

merchants.

Page 8: Sunni–Shi’a Split

The Islamic Civilization & Cultural Encounters

• Even after the Arab Empire fell apart, the Islamic civilization continued to grow• Major areas of

Muslim expansion: India, Anatolia, West Africa, and Spain

Page 9: Sunni–Shi’a Split

India• Islam brought to India by

Muslim Turks from Central Asia• Violent invasions

destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples• Their conquests led to a

series of Muslim-led governments in India

Page 10: Sunni–Shi’a Split

India• Islam never became the dominant faith in

India like it did in the Middle East, North Africa, and Persia• Very sharp cultural divide between Islam and

Hinduism prevented mass conversion

Page 11: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Islam vs. Hinduism• Monotheistic• No representation of

Allah• Equality of all believers• Sexual modesty

• Polytheistic• Endless statues and

images of the divine• Caste system• Sexual openness

Page 12: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Disillusioned Buddhists as well as low-caste Hindus and untouchables found the more egalitarian Islam attractive.

Page 13: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• But in India, never more than 20 to 25 percent of the total population affiliated with Islam

-Perhaps due to the sharpness of the cultural divide between Islam and Hinduism

-Islam was radically monotheistic while Hinduism was surely polytheistic

-Islam’s equality of all believers contrasted with the Hindu caste system

• But in the early sixteenth century, a new and distinct religious tradition emerged in India, known as Sikhism

-It blended elements of Islam, such as devotion to one universal God, with Hindu concepts, such as Karma and rebirth

Page 14: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Sikhism• Blended Islam and

Hinduism• Devotion to one God• Hindu concepts = karma

and rebirth• Guru Nanak (1469-1539),

the founder of Sikhism, declared, “There is no Hindu and no Muslim. All are children of God.”

Guru NankFounder of Sikhism

Page 15: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Anatolia• Modern-day Turkey• Was governed by

Byzantine Empire at the time

• Filled with Christian & Greek-speaking people

• Invaded by the Turks–Result = huge cultural

transformation–By 1500 = 90% of the

population was Muslim and Turkic-speaking

Page 16: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Conversion of Anatolia• Small population of about 8 million people =

easy to convert• Extensive disruption of Anatolian society when

the Byzantine Empire weakened–Enslavement, famine, massacres, church properties

destroyed, many discriminations–Many Christians came to believe that these

disasters were proof that Islam was the true religion

Page 17: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Conversion of Anatolia• Cultural barriers to conversion were less severe in

Anatolia than in India–Most people in Anatolia already monotheistic

(Christian)–Muslim respect for Jesus and the Christian scriptures

• Divide between Islam and Christianity not as major as the one between Islam and Hinduism

• Sufi missionaries also built: schools, mills, orchards, hospices, and rest places for travelers

Page 18: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• But in Anatolia, the population by 1500 was 90% Muslim and largely Turkic-speaking

• Anatolia was the heartland of the powerful Turkish Ottoman Empire that had overrun Christian Byzantium

-But Anatolia’s population was significantly smaller than India’s

-The disruption of Anatolian society was more extensive as the Byzantine state had been fatally weakened

-Even though Christians were seldom forced to convert, they suffered many discriminations such as being forbidden to ride saddled horses or carry swords

-Some Christians came to believe that these disasters represented proof that Islam was the true religion (shared a common monotheism, too!)

Page 19: Sunni–Shi’a Split

The Turkish rulers of Anatolia built a new society that welcomed converts and granted them material rewards and opportunity for high office.

Page 20: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• But Islamization did not completely eliminate the influence of Turkish culture

-The tradition of a freer, more gender-equal life for women, common among pastoral people, persisted after the conversion to Islam

• In West Africa, Islam accompanied Muslim traders across the Sahara rather than being brought by invading Arab or Turkic armies

• Islam’s acceptance was largely peaceful and voluntary, lacking the incentives associated elsewhere with foreign conquest

• For African merchant communities, Islam provided an important link to Muslim trading partners, much as Buddhism had done in Southeast Asia

Page 21: Sunni–Shi’a Split

West Africa• Islam spread by

Muslim traders across the Sahara

• Peaceful and voluntary acceptance of Islam–Mainly in urban centers

of West African empires Ghana, Songhay, Mali, etc.

Page 22: Sunni–Shi’a Split

West Africa• Many West African cities became major

centers of Islamic religious and intellectual life• Especially Timbuktu–More than 150 Quranic schools–Several major centers of higher education–Libraries with tens of thousands of texts–Construction of huge mosques–Adopted Arabic as the language of religion,

education, administration, and trade

Page 23: Sunni–Shi’a Split

By the sixteenth century, a number of West African cities had become major centers of Islamic religious and intellectual life, attracting scholars from throughout the Muslim world. Timbuktu had more than 150 lower-level Quranic schools and several major centers of higher education with thousands of students from all over West Africa.

Page 24: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Spain• Conquered by Arab and

Berber forces in the early 700s

• Early Muslim Spain:–Vibrant civilization–Astronomy, medicine, the

arts, architecture, and literature flourished–Harmony and tolerance

between Muslim rulers and Christian and Jewish subjects–Freedom of worship

Page 25: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Spain• 10th and 11th centuries =

end of the era of toleration• Warfare with remaining

Christian states in northern Spain picked up• More rigid forms of Islam

entered Spain from North Africa

Muslim Mosque ofCordoba, Spain

Page 26: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Spain: New Intolerance• Muslims avoided contact with Christians• Christian homes built lower than Muslim

homes• Priests forbidden to carry crosses or Bibles

Page 27: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Spain• Christians started to regain

Spain after 1200–Many Muslims forced out–No more: call to prayer,

public practice of Muslim faith, pilgrimages

• Christians officially reconquered Spain in 1492–ALL Muslims (and Jews!)

expelled from Spain

Page 28: Sunni–Shi’a Split

The chief site of Islamic encounter with Catholic Europe occurred in Spain (called al-Andalus by Muslims). Spain had been conquered by Arab and Berber forces in the early eighth century but Islam did not overwhelm Christianity in Spain. Early toleration between Muslims and Christians gave way to increasing religious intolerance. That intolerance was perpetuated as Muslims were forced out of Spain during the Reconquest and in 1492, all Jews were likewise expelled.

Page 29: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• West Africa did not experience the massive migration of Arab peoples that had promoted Arabization of North Africa and the Middle East

• Moreover, in contrast to India and Anatolia, Sufi holy men played little role until at least the eighteenth century

• Scholars, merchants, and rulers, rather than mystic preachers, initially established Islam in West Africa

• Ibn Battuta, a fourteenth-century Arab traveler, was appalled that practicing Muslims in Mali permitted their women to appear in public almost naked and to mingle freely with unrelated men

• And Sonni Ali, a fifteenth-century ruler of Songhay, observed Ramadan and built mosques but consulted traditional diviners

Page 30: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Islam as a New Civilization• Even after the fall of the Arab

Empire: Islamic beliefs and practices preserved and transmitted by the ulama (Muslim scholars)

• Passed on core teachings of the faith in their homes, mosques, shrines, and Quranic schools

• Madrasas = formal colleges set up in the 11th century = offered more advanced instruction in the Quran

Page 31: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Islamic Civilization• Islamic Civilization = not only a network of

faith, but also a network of exchange–Exchange of: goods, technologies, food products,

and ideas

Page 32: Sunni–Shi’a Split

Trade and the Bazaar• Muslims traded spices,

carpets, glass & textiles• Traded for silk (China);

rubies (India); ivory and slaves (Africa)• Goods were sold in city

bazaars = marketplaces

Page 33: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• At the core of Islamic civilization was a common commitment to Islam

• Beginning in the eleventh century, formal colleges called madrassas offered more advanced instruction in the Quran and the sayings of Muhammad as well as law

• The ulama were an “international elite,” and the system of education they created served to bind together an immense and diverse civilization

• Paralleling the educational network of the ulama were the emerging religious orders of the Sufis

-By the tenth century, particular Sufi shayks, or teachers, began to attract groups of disciples who were eager to learn their unique devotional practices and ways of achieving union with Allah

Page 34: Sunni–Shi’a Split

• The world of Islamic civilization was a network of faith but also a network of trade

-In part, due to its central location in the Afro-Eurasian world

-Commerce was valued by the Prophet Muhammad who himself had been a trader

-The pilgrimage to Mecca also fostered commerce -The extraordinary spurt of urbanization that

accompanied the growth of Islamic civilization also promoted trade

• Technology also diffused widely within the Islamic world

• Philosophical texts, especially from ancient Greece and the Hellenistic world, were translated into Arabic

Page 35: Sunni–Shi’a Split

The blending of Islamic civilization and other civilizations led to new contributions to learning. Using Indian numerical notations, Arab scholars developed algebra. They also undertook original work in astronomy and optics. They furthered developments in medicine and pharmacology. The first hospitals, traveling clinics, and examinations for physicians and pharmacologists also were developed within the Islamic world. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this enormous body of Arab medical scholarship entered Europe via Spain.

Page 36: Sunni–Shi’a Split

QuestionsHow did the rise of Islam change the lives of women? What similarities and differences can you identify in the

spread of Islam to India, Anatolia, West Africa, and Spain? Why was Anatolia so much more thoroughly Islamized

than India? What makes it possible to speak of the Islamic world as a

distinct and coherent civilization? In what ways was the world of Islam a "cosmopolitan

civilization"?