Historical Atlas of Islam by Malise Ruthven and Azim Nanji

2. ISBN: 0674013859
Author: Malise Ruthven, Azim Nanji
Publisher: Harvard University Press (May 28, 2004)
Pages: 208 Binding: Hardcover w/ dust jacket
Description from the publisher: Among the great civilizations
of the world, Islam remains an enigma to Western readers.
Now, in a beautifully illustrated historical atlas, noted scholar of
religion Malise Ruthven recounts the fascinating and important history of the
Islamic world.
From the birth of the prophet Muhammed to the independence of post-Soviet
Muslim states in Central Asia, this accessible and informative atlas explains the
historical evolution of Islamic societies. Short essays cover a wide variety of
themes, including the central roles played by sharia (divine law) and fiqh (jurisprudence); philosophy; arts and
architecture; the Muslim city; trade, commerce, and manufacturing; marriage and family life; tribal distributions;
kinship and dynastic power; ritual and devotional practices; Sufism; modernist and reformist trends; the European
domination of the Islamic world; the rise of the modern national state; oil exports and arms imports; and Muslim
populations in non-Muslim countries, including the United States.
Lucid and inviting full-color maps chronicle the changing internal and external boundaries of the Islamic world,
showing the principal trade routes through which goods, ideas, and customs spread. Ruthven traces the impact of
various Islamic dynasties in art and architecture and shows the distribution of sects and religious minorities, the
structure of Islamic cities, and the distribution of resources. Among the book's valuable contributions is the
incorporation of the often neglected geographical and environmental factors, from the Fertile Crescent to the
North African desert, that have helped shape Islamic history.
Rich in narrative and visual detail that illuminates the story of Islamic civilization, this timely atlas is an
indispensable resource to anyone interested in world history and religion.
About the Author --
Malise Ruthven is a former editor with the BBC Arabic Service and World Service in London and is the author of
Islam in the World and Islam: A Very Short Introduction. Azim Nanji is Professor and Director of the Institute of
Ismaili Studies and visiting professor at Stanford University.

3. HISTORICAL
ATLAS OF THE
ISLAMIC
WORLD

4. HISTORICAL
ATLAS OF THE
ISLAMIC
WORLD
Malise Ruthven
with
Azim Nanji

5. Book Copyright © Cartographica Limited 2004
Text Copyright © Malise Ruthven 2004
All rights reserved.
Historical Atlas of the Islamic World
eBook version
Published by Cartographica
Originally published in print format in 2004.
In this informative and beautifully illustrated atlas, noted
scholar of religion Malise Ruthven recounts the fascinating
and important history of the Islamic world.
Short and concise essays cover a wide variety of themes
including philosophy; arts and architecture; the Muslim city;
trade, commerce and manufacturing; marriage and family
life; ritual and devotional practices; the rise of the modern
national state; oil exports and arms imports; and much more.
Rich in narrative and visual detail, the Atlas is of critical
importance to both students and anyone seeking insight into
the Islamic world, history and culture.
q Published/Released: October 2005
q ISBN 13: 9780955006616
q ISBN 10: 0955006619
q Product number: 225062
q Page count: 208 pp.

6. CONTENTS
Introduction 6 Balkans, Cyprus, and Crete 1500–2000 118
Foundational Beliefs and Practices 14 Muslim Minorities in China 122
Geophysical Map of the Muslim World 16 The Levant 1500–2002 124
Muslim Languages and Ethnic Groups 20 Prominent Travelers 128
Late Antiquity Before Islam 24 Britain in Egypt and Sudan in the 19th Century 132
Muhammad’s Mission and Campaigns 26 France in North and West Africa 136
Expansion of Islam to 750 28 Growth of the Hajj and Other Places of Pilgrimage 138
Expansion 751–1700 30 Expanding Cities 142
Sunnis, Shiites, and Khariji 660–c. 1000 34 Impact of Oil in the 20th Century 146
Abbasid Caliphate under Harun al-Rashid 36 Water Resources 148
Spread of Islam, Islamic Law, and Arabic Language 38 The Arms Trade 150
Successor States to 1100 40 Flashpoint Southeast Asia 1950–2000 152
The Saljuq Era 44 Flashpoint Iraq 1917–2003 154
Military Recruitment 900–1800 46 Afghanistan 1840–2002 156
Fatimid Empire 909–1171 50 Arabia and the Gulf 1839–1950 158
Trade Routes c. 700–1500 52 Rise of the Saudi State 160
Crusader Kingdoms 56 Flashpoint Israel–Palestine 162
Sufi Orders 1100–1900 58 Flashpoint Gulf 1950–2003 164
Ayyubids and Mamluks 62 Muslims in Western Europe 166
The Mongol Invasion 64 Muslims in North America 168
Maghreb and Spain 650–1485 66 Mosques and Places of Worship in North America 170
Subsaharan Africa—East 70 Islamic Arts 172
Subsaharan Africa—West 72 Major Islamic Architectural Sites 176
Jihad States 74 World Distribution of Muslims 2000 180
The Indian Ocean to 1499 76 World Terrorism 2003 184
The Indian Ocean 1500–1900 80 Muslim Cinema 188
Rise of the Ottomans to 1650 84 Internet Use 190
The Ottoman Empire 1650–1920 88 Democracy, Censorship, Human Rights, and Civil Society 192
Iran 1500–2000 92 Modern Islamic Movements 194
Central Asia to 1700 94
Chronology 196
India 711–1971 96
Russian Expansion in Transcaucasia and Central Asia 102 Glossary 200
Expansion of Islam in Southeast Asia c. 1500–1800 106
British, French, Dutch, and Russian Empires 108 Further Reading 203
Nineteenth-Century Reform Movements 110
Acknowledgments and Map List 204
Modernization of Turkey 112
The Muslim World under Colonial Domination c. 1920 116 Index 205

7. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Introduction
Since September 11th 2001, barely a day pas- nations: Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa,
ses without stories about Islam—the religion Riyadh, Casablanca, Bali, Tunisia, Jakarta,
of about one-fifth of humanity—appearing in Bombay (Mumbhai), Istanbul and Madrid.
the media. The terrorists who hijacked four The list grows longer, the casualties mount.
American airliners and flew them into the The responses of people and their govern-
World Trade Center in New York and the ments are angry and perplexed. The far-reach-
Pentagon near Washington killed some three ing consequences of these responses for inter-
thousand people. This unleashed a “War on national peace and security should be enough
Terrorism” by the United States and its allies, to convince anyone (and not just the media edi-
leading to the removal of two Muslim govern- tors who mold public consciousness to fit their
ments, one in Afghanistan and the other in advertisers’ priorities) that extreme manifesta-
Iraq. It raised the profile of Islam throughout tions of Islam are setting the agenda for argu-
the world as a subject for analysis and discus- ment and action in the twenty-first century .
sion. The debates, in newspaper columns and Muslims living in the West and in the
broadcasting studios, in cafes, bars, and growing areas of the Muslim world that come
homes, have been heated and passionate. within the West’s electronic footprint under-
Questions that were previously discussed in standably resent the negative exposure that
the rarified atmosphere of academic confer- comes with the increasing concerns of out-
ences or graduate seminars have entered the siders. Islam is a religion of peace: the word
mainstream of public consciousness. What is “Islam,” a verbal noun meaning submission
the “law of jihad”? How is it that a “religion
of peace” subscribed to by millions of ordi- JAZIRA RASLANDA
Qarnqi JAZIRA
LUQAGHA
JAZIRA J. SQUSIYYA
nary, decent believers, can become an ideology IRLANDA Aghrims JAZIRAT
DANMARSHA
JAZIRAT
of hatred for an angry minority? Why has Jazira Dans
INQILTARA
Gharkafurt
BILAD
Islam after the fall of communism become so Hastinks
Londras BALUNIYYA
Shant Mahlu Na
Diaba
freighted with passionate intensity? Or, to use Jol
Sin hr
u ARD AFRIZIYYA
ALAMANIN Na h r Danu
Abariz Qaghradun
the title of a best-selling essay by Bernard Faynash Shant
ARD AFLANDRIS
AL AFRANJ Na h Draw
r
a
BILAD
BU’AMIYYA
Majial
Lewis, the doyen of Orientalist scholars, Kh
a
Janbara
Kradis K
al- ltj
ha
“What went wrong?” with Islamic history, An Liyun
l ij
Shant Ya‘aqub
al-
glis Ankuna
Ba
hin Burdal Raghusa
nad
with its relationship with itself, and with the Nabal
iqa
Bisha
Manubas
Munt Mayur Shaghubiyya Mashiliyya
modern world? Tarakuna J. al-Nar Labiuna
Messina Kashtara
Such questions are no longer academic, but Qartajanna J. Qurshiqa Barsana
al-Mariyya J. Sardaniyya J. Siqilliyya
are arguably of vital concern to most of the Jalfuniyya
Jaza’ir bani
peoples living on this planet. Few would deny Mazjani
Lebda
Fas
that Islam, or some variation thereof— Tarabulus Surt
l Da ran Barqa
whether distorted, perverted, corrupted, or J aba Jabal Daran
hijacked by extremists—has become a force to Mastih
Jabal Tantana
be reckoned with, or at least a label attached to Jabal Ghaghara
ARD Nebranta
a phenomenon with menacing potentialities. KAMNURIYYA al L
uni
a al-Qasaba
Jab
Numerous atrocities have been attributed to Jabal Banbuan ARD GHANA
Nil a l-Sudan Takrur Kuku
and claimed by Islamic extremists, both before
Ghana
and since 9/11, causing mayhem and carnage
in many of the world’s cities and tourist desti-
6

8. INTRODUCTION
(to God) is etymologically related to the word emies, are accused of viewing Islam through
salaam, meaning peace. The standard greet- the misshapen lens of Orientalism, a disci-
ing most Muslims use when joining a gather- pline corrupted by its associations with impe-
ing or meeting strangers is “as-salaam rialism, when specialist knowledge was
alaikum”—“Peace be upon you.” Westerners placed at the service of power.
who accuse Islam of being a violent religion This is fraught, contested territory and
misunderstand its nature. Attaching the label writers who venture into it do so at their own
“Muslim” or “Islamic” to acts of terrorism is peril. As with other religious traditions, every
grossly unfair. When a right-wing Christian generalization about Islam is open to chal-
fanatic like Timothy McVeigh blew up a US lenge, because for every normative descrip-
federal building in Oklahoma city, the worst tion of Islamic faith, belief, and practice,
atrocity committed on American soil before there exist important variants and consider-
9/11, no one described him as a “Christian” able diversity. The problem of definition is
terrorist. In the view of many of Islam’s made more difficult because there is no over-
adherents, “Westerners” who have aban- arching ecclesiastical institution, no Islamic
doned their own faith, or are blinkered by papacy, with prescriptive power to decree
religious prejudice, do not “understand” what is and what is not Islamic. (Even
Islam. Certain hostile media distort Western Protestant churches define their religious
viewpoints, prejudicing sentiments and atti- positions in contradistinction to Roman
tudes with Islamophobia—the equivalent of Catholicism.)
anti-Semitism applied to Muslims instead of Being Muslim, like being a Jew, embraces
The world according
Jews. Some scholars, trained in Western acad- ancestry as well as belief. People described as to al-Idrisi 549–1154
Ar
da Truiyya
l- Tabunt
ARD LASLANDA Buhayrat Janun
Sinubun
Ku
JANUB BILAD ma
niy
N ah
s
i
AL-RUSIYYA br ya
na
rA
a
Nahr Dnas
t .D mi Majuj
Kaw N Labada l ? Quruqiyya Khagan Majui
Shahadruj Jabal Su Adkash
Rushiyya n?? ARD MAJUJ
Basjirt
?
Bahr Nitas al-Dakhila
Filibus Arsan
Hiraqliyya Askisiyya
al-Qostantino
Atrabezunda
Samandar Bahr Jabal Mazrar
Ard Buhayrat Ghargun
Maqaduniyya Abidus al-Khazar Jajun
ARD
un
Salanik Qashtamuni r Kharba
Akhrida Ladikiyya Tiflis J. Karkuniyya ga YAJUJ
As
Dahistan Buhayrat al Buhayrat
Quniyya Ardabil Khwarazem Jab Jabal Janf Tehama
l Lalan
Nah
Tabriz Nahr
Sha Jaba
Amul
r al
s
Nahr
h
al-Mawsil l Ashla
th
Fra
Rudus
Jaba
?? D y l
Arkadiyya al- Sha ARD AL-KIMAKIYYA
i
???
m
?
Iskandaruna Tus MIN AL-ATRAK
al
F arg
a
Jazira Qum h
J. Iqritish Antakiyya Sisian
an
Qibris Bukhara Buhayrat
Baghdad Jujar
al- Dimyat
Dimashu Sarakhs Nashran
Iskandariyya
Abadan Yazd Harat BILAD AL-TIBET Khirkhir
Jazira
al-Taghlibiyya MIN AL-ATRAK
Qulzum al Yakut
Laka Buhayrat
Khaybar Bazwan
Jab
Wakhan
Yathrib
al A
al-Multan
la qa
Kashmir al-Kharija
lul
ttam
l Ja
Suhar Qandahar AQSA BILAD Baja
Makka
a
Jab
Asyut AL-HIND Sinis
Aydhab Tabala Kanbaya Lulua BILAD
Sur Daybul Katigura
Jazira Aurshin AL-SIN
M isr
Ba
ARD AL-ABADIYA Jazira
Khanfun Sa’ala
ba
N il Sandan
l- M
NUBIA MIN an MIN AL-YAMAN Jazira Jazira
Manquna da Jazira al-Mand Kulom Mak al-Romi
AL-SUDAN b
Adan Jazira al-
J. Suqutra Qotsoba al-Gharb Jazira Sarandib Jazira al-Qamr
Donqola Aqent Malot Jazira
al-Sila
Jazira Sarandib
ARD SUFALA
ARD AL-ZANJ AL-NABR
ARD AL-WAQWAQ
J ab
7
a l a l- K a m r

9. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Muslims are religiously observant in different one of his companions, Abu Bakr (r. 624–632),
ways. One can be culturally Muslim, as one who was accepted as Caliph or successor by
can be culturally Jewish, without subscribing agreement of the main leaders in the communi-
to a particular set of religious prescriptions ty after the death of the Prophet. He, in turn,
or beliefs. It would not be inappropriate to appointed Umar (r. 634–644), who on his
describe many nonreligious Americans and deathbed designated Uthman (r. 644–656), after
Europeans as “cultural Christians” given the consultation with leading Muslims. Uthman
seminal importance played by Christianity in was succeeded by Ali (r. 656–661), again with
the development of Western culture. The fact the consent of leading Muslims of the time. In
that the term is rarely, if ever, used is reveal- the view of the Sunni majority the four caliphs
ing of Western cultural hegemony and its constitute a “rightly guided Caliphate.”
pretensions to universality. The Christian Over time the Shiites and Sunni both devel-
underpinning of Western culture is so taken oped distinctive community identities. They
for granted that no one troubles to make it are divided into various branches and organ-
apparent. At the same time the term ized into different movements and tendencies.
“Christian” has been appropriated by While these, and other groups, differed with
Protestant fundamentalists who seek to each other and often fought over their differ-
define themselves in contradistinction to sec- ences, the general tenor of relations, in pre-
ular humanists or religious believers with modern urban societies, allowed for a degree
whose outlook they disagree. of mutual coexistence and intellectual debate.
Similar problems of definition apply in the In recent times, however, there has been a
Muslim world. Just as there are theological tendency for extremist sects and radical
disagreements between Christian churches groups to anathematize their religious oppo-
over all sorts of questions of belief and ritu- nents, or to declare those ruling over them to
al, within the Islamic fold there are groups be outside the pale of Islam. This narrow
which differ among themselves ritualistically perspective may be contrasted with a growing
or in terms of their respective tradition of awareness among the majority of Muslim
interpretation and practice. people of the diversity and plurality of inter-
Among the major groups in Islam, histor- pretations within the Umma.
ically, the two most significant are the Sunni Currently, the climate of religious intoler-
and Shiites. ance manifested in some parts of the Muslim
The Shiites maintain that, shortly before world has complex origins and may be symp-
his death, the Prophet Muhammad (c. tomatic, like the puritan extremism that
570–632 ) designated Ali, his first cousin and flourished in Europe in the seventeenth cen-
husband of his daughter Fatima, as his succes- tury, of the dislocating effects of economic
sor. They further believe that this succession and social changes. As the maps and essays
continued in a line of Imams (spiritual lead- that follow make clear, modernity came to
ers) descendent from Ali and Fatima, each the Muslim world on the wings of colonial
specifically designated by the previous Imam. power, rather than as a consequence of inter-
The larger body of the Shiites, the “Twelvers” nally generated transformations. The “best
or Imamis, believe that the last of these lead- community” decreed by God for “ordering
ers, who “disappeared” in 873, will reappear the good and forbidding the evil” has lost the
as the Mahdi or messiah at some future time. moral and political hegemony it held in what
The Sunnis, on the other hand, maintain that was once the most civilized part of the world
the Prophet had made an indication favoring outside China. When Islam was in the ascen-
8

10. INTRODUCTION
dant, so was the climate of tolerance it detail. The story of Muhammad’s career as
engendered. Muslim scholars and theolo- Prophet and Statesman (if one can use a
gians polemicized against each other but rather modern term for the leader of the
were careful not to denounce those who movement that united the tribes of the
affirmed the shahada—the declaration of Arabian Peninsula) was constructed from a
faith—and who prayed toward Mecca. As the different body of oral materials. Known as
American scholar Carl Ernst observes, “In Hadith (traditions or reports about the
any society in the world today, religious plu- Prophet’s behavior), they acquired written
ralism is a sociological fact. If one group form after Muhammad’s death.
claims authority over all the rest, demanding The Koran is divided into 114 sections
their allegiance and submission, this will be known as suras (rows), each of which is com-
experienced as the imposition of power posed of varying numbers of verses called
through religious rhetoric.” [Carl Ernst, ayas (signs or miracles). Apart from the first
Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in sura, the Fatiha, or Opening, a seven-verse
the Contemporary World, London and invocation used as a prayer in numerous ritu-
Chapel Hill, p. 206.] als, including daily prayers or salat, the suras
In principle, if not always in practice, a are arranged in approximate order of
Muslim is one who follows Islam, an Arabic decreasing length, with the shortest at the
word meaning “submission” or, more pre- end and the longest near the beginning. Most
cisely, “self-surrender” to the will of God as standard editions divide the suras into pas-
revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. These sages revealed in Mecca (which tend to be
revelations, delivered orally over the period shorter, and hence located near the end of
of Muhammad’s active prophetic career from the book) and those belonging to the period
about 610 until his death, are contained in of the Prophet’s sojourn in Medina, where he
the Koran, the scripture that stands at the emigrated with his earliest followers to
foundation of the Islamic religion and the escape persecution in Mecca in 622, the Year
diverse cultural systems that flow from it. A One of the Muslim era. Meccan passages,
few revisionist scholars working in Western especially the early ones, convey vivid mes-
universities have challenged the traditional sages about personal accountability, reward
Islamic account of the Koran’s origins, argu- and punishment—in heaven and hell—while
ing that the text was constructed out of a celebrating the glories and beauty of the nat-
larger body of oral materials following the ural world as proof of God’s creative power
Arab conquest of the Fertile Crescent. The and sovereignty. The Medinese passages,
great majority of scholars, however, Muslim while replicating many of the same themes,
and non-Muslim, regard the Koran as the contain positive teachings on social and legal
written record of the revelations accumulat- issues (including rules governing sexual rela-
ed in the course of Muhammad’s career. tions and inheritance, and punishments pre-
Unlike the Bible, there are no signs of multi- scribed for certain categories of crime). Such
ple authorship. In contrast to the New passages, supplemented with material from
Testament in particular, where the sayings of the Hadith literature, came to be the key
Jesus have been incorporated into four dis- sources for the development of a legal system
tinct narratives of his life presumed to have known as the Sharia. Different scholars of
been written by different authors, the Koran Muslim thought added other sources to cre-
contains many allusions to events in the ate a methodology for the systematization
Prophet’s life, but does not spell them out in and implementation of the Sharia.
9

11. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
For believing Muslims, the Koran is the Islam beyond Arabia occurred on the basis of
direct speech of God, dictated without human the Arab conquest of the Fertile Crescent and
editing. Muhammad has been described by lands further afield in the century or so fol-
some modern Muslim scholars as a passive lowing the Prophet’s death in 632. Faith in
transmitter of the Divine Word. The Prophet Islam and the Prophet’s divine calling—as
himself is supposed to have been ummi (illiter- well as the desire for booty—united the
ate), although some scholars question this as he Arabian tribes into a formidable fighting
was an active and successful merchant. For a machine. They defeated both the Byzantine
majority of Muslims, the Koran, whose text and Sasanian armies, opening part of the
was written down and stabilized during the Byzantine Empire and the whole of Persia to
reign of the third caliph, Uthman (r. 644–656), Muslim conquest and settlement. At first
was “uncreated” and coeternal with God. Islam remained primarily the religion of the
Hence, for believing Muslims, the Koran occu- “Arab”. Muslim commanders housed their
pies the position Christ has for Christians. God tribal battalions in separate military canton-
reveals himself not through a person, but ments outside the cities they conquered, leav-
The illuminated double page
from the Koran in the Bihari
script. This copy was completed
in 1399, the year after Timur’s
conquest of Delhi. The passage,
from the Al-Tawba (Sura of
Repentance), refers to the
Prophet’s Bedouin allies who are
not to be excused for failing to
join one of his campaigns.
through the language contained in a holy text. ing their new subjects (Christian, Jewish, or
Other religious traditions, including Buddhism, Zoroastrian) to regulate their own affairs so
Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, and long as they paid the jizya (poll-tax) in lieu of
Zoroastrianism, privilege their foundational military service. The process of Islamization
texts as sacred. Muslim rulers recognized this occurred gradually, through marriage, as the
common principle by granting religious tolera- leading families of the subject populations
tion to the ahl al-kitab (Peoples of the Book). sought to join the Muslim elites. It also
In its initial phase the rapid expansion of occurred as impoverished or uprooted sub-
10

12. INTRODUCTION
jects found support in the religion of their patterns of state and religious authority that
rulers, or as people disenchanted with their prevailed during the vast sweep of Islamic
former rulers found a congenial spiritual history from the time of the Prophet to the
home in one that honored their traditions present. But it is hoped that they will illumi-
while representing their teachings in a new, nate important aspects of that history by
creative synthesis. The role of early Muslim opening windows into significant areas of
missionaries was also crucial in this process. the distant and recent past, thereby helping
Muslim theology, however, did have one to explain the legacy of conflicts—as well as
dynamic cultural dimension, which may help opportunities—the past has bequeathed to
to explain its evolution of an “Arab” religion the present. Geography is vital for the under-
into a universal faith. As the quintessential standing of Islamic history and its problem-
“religion of the Book,” which represented the atic relationship with modernity.
divine Word as manifested in a written text, As the maps in this atlas illustrate, the cen-
Islam carried with it the prestige of learning tral belt of Islamic territories stretching from A world map drawn in 1571–72
and literacy into illiterate cultures. The cult of the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus Valley was by the al-Sharafi al-Sifaqsi family
the book, like La Rochefoucauld’s definition perennially at the mercy of nomadic or semi- in the town of Sfax, Tunisia.
of hypocrisy, was the homage not of vice to nomadic invaders. In premodern times,
virtue, but of illiteracy to learning. However before gunpowder weapons, air
revelation is perceived—whether proceeding power, and modern systems of
directly from God or by way of an altered communication brought
mental state comparable to the operations of peripheral regions under
human genius—Muhammad’s epiphany came the control of central
in the form of language. Time and again the governments (usually
nomadic peoples on the fringes of the Muslim under colonial aus-
empires would take over the centers of power, pices), the cities were
and in so doing civilize themselves, becoming vulnerable to attack
in turn the bearers of Muslim cultural pres- by nomadic preda-
tige. After the disintegration of the great tors. The genius of
Abbasid Empire, the dream of a universal the Islamic system
caliphate embracing the whole of the Islamic lay in providing the
world (and, indeed, the rest of humanity) converted tribesmen
ceased to be a viable project. The lines of com- with a system of law,
munication were too long for the center to be practice and learning within
able to suppress the ambitions of local a foundation of faith to which
dynasts. But the prestige of literacy, symbol- they became acculturated over time.
ized by the Koran and its glorious calligraphic In his Muqaddima, or “Proglomena” to
elaborations on the walls of mosques and the History of the World, the Arab philoso-
other public buildings, as well as in the metic- pher of history Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)
ulously copied versions of the book itself, was developed a theory of cyclic renewal and state
powerful. Even Mongol invaders, notorious formation, which analyzed this process in the
for their cruelty, would succumb to the spiri- context of his native North Africa. According
tual and aesthetic power of Islam in the west- to his theory, in the arid zones where rainfall is
ern part of their dominions. sparse, pastoralism remains the principal
The maps in this book do not aim to pro- mode of agricultural production. Unlike peas-
vide a comprehensive account of the shifting ants, pastoralists are organized along “tribal”
11

13. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
lines (patrilineal kinship groups). They are rel- a common or corporative asabiyya. The
atively free from government control. Enjoying absence of bourgeois solidarity, in which the
greater mobility than urban people, they can- corporate group interests of the burghers
not be regularly taxed. Nor can they be transcend the bonds of kinship, may partly
brought under the control of feudal lords who be traced to the operations of Muslim law.
will appropriate a part of their produce in Unlike the Roman legal tradition, the Sharia
return for extending protection. Indeed, in the contains no provision for the recognition of
arid lands it is the tribesmen who are usually corporate groups as fictive “persons.”
armed, and who, at times, can hold the city to In its classic formulation, Ibn Khaldun’s
ransom, or conquer it. Ibn Khaldun’s insights theory applied to the North African milieu
tell us why it is usually inappropriate to speak he knew and understood best. But it serves as
of Muslim “feudalism,” except in the strictly an explanatory model for the wider history
limited context of the great river valley systems of Western Asia and North Africa, from the
of Egypt and Mesopotamia, where a settled coming of Islam to the present. The theory is
peasantry farmed the land. In the arid regions, based on the dialectical interraction between
pastoralists move their flocks seasonally across religion and asabiyya. Ibn Khaldun’s concept
the land according to complex arrangements of asabiyya, which is central to his outlook
with other users. Usufruct is not ownership. on Muslim social and political history, can be
Property and territory are not coterminous, as made to mesh with modern theories of eth-
they became in the high rainfall regions of nicity, whether one adopts a “primordial” or
Europe. Here feudalism and its offshoot, capi- “interactive” model. The key to Ibn
talism, took root and eventually created the Khaldun’s theory may be found in two of his
bourgeois state that would dominate the coun- propositions singled out by the anthropolo-
tryside, commercializing agriculture and sub- gist and philosopher Ernest Gellner: (1)
jecting rural society to urban values and con- “Leadership exists only through superiority,
trol. In most parts of Western Asia and North and superiority only through group feeling
Africa, in contrast, the peoples at the margins (asabiyya)” and (2) “Only tribes held togeth-
continued to elude state control until the com- er by group feeling can live in the desert.”
ing of air power. Even now the process is far The superior power of the tribes vis-à-vis
from complete in places such as Afghanistan, the cities provided the conditions under which
where tribal structures have resisted the dynastic military government and its variants,
authority of the central government. royal government underpinned by mamlukism
Urban Moroccans had a revealing term for or institutionalized asabiyya, became the
the tribal regions of their country: bled al- norm in Islamic history prior to the European
siba—the land of insolence—as contrasted colonial intervention. The absence of the legal
with bled al-makhzen, the civilized center, recognition of corporative bodies in Islamic
which periodically falls prey to it. The supe- law prevented the artificial solidarity of the
riority of the tribes, in Ibn Khaldun’s theory, corporation, a prerequisite for urban capitalist
depends on asabiyya, a term which is usually development, from transcending the “natural”
translates as group feeling or social solidari- solidarities of kinship. In precolonial times the
ty. This asabiyya derives ultimately from the high cultural traditions of Islam constantly
harsher environment of the desert or arid interacted with these primordial solidarities
lands, where there is little division of labor, or ethnicities: they did not replace them.
and humans depend for their survival on the Formally the ethic of Islam is opposed to
bonds of kinship. City life, by contrast, lacks local solidarities, which privilege some
12

14. INTRODUCTION
believers above others. In theory there exists eleventh centuries was far ahead of its
a single Muslim community—the umma— Christian competitor eventually fell behind,
under the sovereignty of God. In practice this to find itself under the political and cultural
ideal was often modified by recognition of dominance of people it regarded—and which
the need to enlist asabiyya or tribal ethnicity some of its members still do regard—as infi-
in the “path of God.” Islamic practice stress- dels.
es communitarian values through regular The Islamic system of precolonial times,
prayer, pilgrimage, and other devotional embedded in the memory of contemporary
practices, and given time, generates the urban Muslims, was brilliantly adapted to the polit-
scripturalist piety of the high cultural or ical ecology of its era. Even if the strategy of
“great” tradition. But it does not of itself “waging jihad in the path of God” were
forge a permanent congregational communi- adopted for pragmatic or military reasons,
ty strong enough to transcend the counter- Islamic faith and culture were the beneficiar-
vailing dynamic of local ethnicities. Be they ies. The nomad conquerors and Mamluks
secular—based on differences of tribe, vil- (soldier-slaves), imported from peripheral
lage, or even craft—or sectarian religious— regions to keep them at bay, became Islam’s
based on divisions between different mad- foremost champions, defenders of the faith-
habs (schools of jurisprudence), or the mysti- community and patrons of its cultures and
cal Sufi orders which are often controlled by systems of learning.
family lineages, or the differences between The social memory of this system exercises
Sunnis and Shiites—such divisions militate a powerful appeal over the imaginations of
against the solidarity of the Umma. many young Muslims at this time. This is espe-
Like the Baptist movement in the United cially true when the more recent memory of
States, Islam (especially that of the Sunni modernization through colonization can be
mainstream, comprising about 90 percent of represented as a story of humiliation, retreat,
the world’s Muslims) is a conservative, pop- and betrayal of Islam’s mission to bring univer-
ulist force, which resists tight doctrinal or sal truth and justice to a world torn by division
ecclesiastical controls. While Muslim scrip- and strife. The violence that struck America on
turalism and orthopraxy provide a common September 11th 2001, may have been rooted in
language which crosses ethnic, racial, and the despair of people holding a romantic, ide-
national boundaries—creating the largest alized vision of the past and smarting under the
“international society” known to the world humiliation of the present. While those who
in premodern times—it has never succeeded planned the operation were almost certainly,
in supplying the ideological underpinning for educated, sophisticated men, fully cognizant
a unified social order that can be translated with the workings of modern societies, it does
into common national identity. In the West not seem accidental that most of the fifteen
the institutions of medieval Christianity, hijackers were Saudi citizens, several from the
allied to Roman legal structures, created the province of Asir. This impoverished mountain-
preconditions for the emergence of the mod- ous region close to the modern borders of
ern national state. In Islamdom the moral Yemen was conquered by the Al Saud family in
basis of the state was constantly undermined the 1920s, and still retains many of its links
by the realities of tribal asabiyya. These with the Yemeni tribes. Like all decent people,
could be admitted de facto, but never accord- Ibn Khaldun would have been horrified by the
ed de jure recognition. This may be one rea- indiscriminate slaughter of 9/11: but it is
son why a civilization that by the tenth and doubtful that he would have been surprised.
13

15. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Foundational Beliefs and Practices
In the majority of Islamic traditions, all nal bliss in the gardens of heaven. Those
Muslims adhere to certain fundamentals. who have failed in their duty will be sen-
The most important is the profession of tenced to the fires of hell.
faith, a creedal formula that states: The Koran also articulates a frame-
“There is no God but God. Muhammad is work of practices which have become
the Messenger of God.” Stated before normative for Muslims over time.
witnesses, this formula—called the One of them is worship, which takes
Shahada—is the sufficient requirement several forms, such as salat (ritual
for conversion to Islam and belonging to prayer), dhikr (contemplative prayer), or
the Umma. dua (prayers of exhortation and praise).
Muslims affirm tawhid (the Unity and Muslims performing salat prostrate
Uniqueness of God). They believe that themselves in the direction of the Kaba,
God has communicated to humanity the cubic temple covered in an embroi-
throughout its history by way of dered cloth of black silk that stands at the
Messengers, who include figures like center of the sacred shrine in Mecca.
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and that Salat is performed daily: early morning,
Muhammad was the final Messenger to noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening,
whom was revealed the Koran. In person- or combined according to circumstance.
al and social life, Muslims are required to Prayer may be performed individually, at
adhere to a moral and ethical mode of home, in a public place such as a park or
behavior for which they are accountable street, or in the mosque (an English word
before God. derived from the Arabic masjid, “place of
As well as tawhid, articles of faith prostration”) or other congregational
adhered to by Muslims include the belief places. The call to prayer (adhan) is made
that angels and other supernatural from the minaret which stands above the
beings act as divine emissaries; that Iblis mosque. It includes the takbir (allahu
or Satan, the fallen angel, was cast out of akbar “God is most great”), as well as
heaven for refusing God’s command to shahada and the imperative: “Hurry to
prostrate himself before Adam; and that salat.” In the past, before electronic
Muhammad is the “seal” of the amplification, the beautifully modulated
prophets, the last in a line of human sounds of the adhan were delivered in
messengers sent by God to teach and person by a muezzin from the minarets
warn humanity. The Koran affirms that five times a day. The noon salat on Friday
the recipients of previous revelations— is the congregational service, and is
the Christians and Jews—have corrupted accompanied by a khutba (sermon) spo-
the scriptures sent down to them. It ken by the Imam, or prayer leader or
warns of the Day of Judgement when all other religious notable. In the early cen-
individuals, living or dead, will be turies of Islam, the name of the caliph or
answerable to God for their conduct. ruler was pronounced with the khutba.
The virtuous will be rewarded with eter- When territories changed hands between
14

16. INTRODUCTION
different rulers (as frequently happened), Another significant ritual practice is
the official indication of a change of gov- the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, which
ernment came in the form of the procla- practicing Muslims are required to per-
mation of the new ruler’s name in the form at least once in their lifetimes, if
country’s leading mosques. able to do so. Historically the Hajj has
Another foundational practice is been one of the principal means by which
zakat, sharing of wealth (not to be con- different parts of the Muslim world
fused with voluntary charity or sadaqa). remained in physical contact. In pre-
In the past, zakat was intended to foster modern times, before mass transporta-
a sense of community by stressing the tion by steamships and aircraft brought
obligation of the better-off to help the the Hajj within the reach of people of
poor, and was paid to religious leaders or modest or average means, returning pil-
to the government. At present, different grims enjoyed the honored title of Hajji
Muslim groups observe practices specific and a higher social status within their
to their traditions. communities than non-Hajjis. As well as
Sawm is the fast in daylight hours dur- providing spiritual fulfilment, the Hajj
ing the holy month of Ramadan, when sometimes created business opportunities
believers abstain from eating, drinking, by enabling pilgrims from different
smoking, and sexual activity. Abu Hamid regions of the world to meet each other. It
al-Ghazali, the medieval mystic and the- also facilitated movements of religious-
ologian, listed numerous benefits from political reform. Many political move-
the discipline of fasting. These included ments were forged out of encounters that
purity of the heart and the sharpening of took place on the pilgrimage—from the
perceptions that comes with hunger, Shiite rebellion that led to the foundation
mortification and self-abasement, self- of the Fatimid caliphate in North Africa
mastery by overcoming desire, and soli- (909) to modern Islamist movements of
darity with the hungry: the person who is revival and reform. The end of Ramadan
sated “is liable to forget those people is marked by the Id al-Fitr (the Feast of
who are hungry and to forget hunger Fast Breaking), while the climax of the
itself.” Ramadan is traditionally an occa- Hajj involves the Id al-Adha (Feast of
sion both for family reunions and reli- Sacrifice) in which all Muslims partici-
gious reflection. In many Muslim coun- pate by sacrificing animals. These two
tries, the fast becomes a feast at sun- feasts are the major canonical festivals
down—an occasion for public conviviali- observed by Muslims everywhere. There
ty that lasts well into the night. Ramadan are, in addition, many other devotional
is the ninth month in the hijri (lunar cal- and spiritual practices among Muslims
endar) which falls short of the solar year that have developed over the centuries,
by 11 days: thus Ramadan, like other based on specific interpretations of the
Muslim festivals, occurs at different sea- practice of faith and its interaction with
sons over a 35-year cycle. local traditions.
15

17. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Geophysical Map of the Muslim World
Although lands of the Islamic world now highlands of Yemen and Dhufar, which catch
occupy a broad belt of territories ranging the Indian Ocean monsoons, and the Junguli
from the African shores of the Atlantic to the region lying south of the Caspian Sea under
Indonesian archipelago, the core regions of the northern slopes of the Elburz, which
Western Asia where Islam originated exer- catches moisture-laden air flowing southward
cised a decisive influence on its development. from Russia.
Compared to Western Europe and North Before recent times, when crops such as
America, the region is perennially short on wheat, requiring large amounts of water,
rainfall. During the winter, rain and snow appeared in the shape of food imports, and
underground fossil water (stored for millions
Originally built in the fourteenth of years in aquifers) became available through
century, the mosque at Agades, modern methods of drilling, agriculture was
in Niger, is made of mud. Its highly precarious. A field that had yielded
structure is constantly renewed wheat for millennia would fail when the annu-
by workers bearing new mud al rainfall was one inch instead of the usual
who climb up the wooden posts twenty. Ancient peoples understood this well,
that protrude from the sides and and provided themselves with granaries.
serve as scaffolding. However, agriculture did flourish in the great
river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia (now
Iraq). Here the annual flooding caused by the
tropical rains in Africa and melting snows in
the Anatolian and Iranian highlands pro-
duced regular harvests and facilitated the
development of the complex city-based cul-
tures of ancient Sumer, Assyria, and Egypt.
The need to manage finely calibrated systems
of irrigation using the nutrient-rich waters of
the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Nile
required complex systems of recording and
control, making it necessary for literate
priestly bureaucrats to govern alongside the
holders of military power. Together with the
Yellow River in China and the Indus Valley,
the three great river systems of the Fertile
Crescent are at the origins of human civiliza-
born by westerlies from the Atlantic fall in tion. The first states, in the sense of orderly
substantial quantities on the Atlas and Riffian systems of government based on common
Mountains, the Cyrenaican massif, and legal principles, appeared in these regions
Mount Lebanon, with the residue falling more than five millennia ago.
intermittently on the Green Mountain of The limited extent of the soil water neces-
Oman, the Zagros, the Elburz, and the moun- sary for agricultural production had a decisive
tains of Afghanistan. But the only rains that impact on the evolution of human societies in
occur with predictable regularity fall in the the arid zone. Though conditions vary from
16

18. GEOPHYSICAL MAP OF THE MUSLIM WORLD
one region to another, certain features distin- Unlike peasant cultivators, a portion of
guish the patterns of life from those of the whose product may be extracted by priests in
temperate zones to the north or tropical zones the form of offerings or by the ruler in taxes,
to the south. Where rainfall is scarce and nomadic pastoralists will often avoid the con-
uncertain, animal husbandry—the raising of fines of state power. People are organized into
camels, sheep, goats, cattle, and, where suit- tribes or patrilineal kinship groups descended
able, horses—offers the securest livelihood for from a common male ancestor. Military
substantial numbers of humans. The “pure prowess is encouraged because, where food
deserts” or sand seas of shifting dunes shaped resources are scarce, tribal or “segmentary”
by the wind, which cover nearly one-third of groups may have to compete with each other,
the land area of Arabia and North Africa, are or make raids on settled villages, in order to
As Islam established itself along
the Silk Road, mosques were
built for travelers and local
converts. This mosque in the
Xinjiang province of China
reflects the Central Asian
influence in its design.
wholly unsuitable for human and animal life, survive. Property is held communally, classi-
and have generally been avoided by herdsmen, cally in the form of herds, rather than in the
traders, and armies. But in the broader semi- form of crop-yielding land. Property and ter-
desert regions complex forms of nomadic and ritory are not coterminous (as they tended to
seminomadic pastoralism have evolved. In become in regions of higher rainfall) because
winter the flocks and herds will range far into the land may be occupied by different users at
the wadis or semidesert areas, to feed on the different seasons of the year. Vital resources,
grasses and plants that can spring up after the such as springs or wells in which everyone has
lightest of showers. In the heat of summer an interest, are often considered as belonging
they will move, where possible, to pastures in to God, and are entrusted to the custodian-
the highlands, or cluster near pools or wells. ship of special families regarded as holy.
17

21. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Muslim Languages and Ethnic Groups
There are approximately one billion Muslim Indonesia could overtake Arabic as the most
people—about one-fifth of humanity—living in widely spoken Muslim language.
the world today. Of these the largest single- In addition to Muslims living in their coun-
language ethnic group, about 15 percent, are tries of ethnic origin, there are now millions of
Arabs. Not all Arabs are Muslims—there are Muslims residing in Europe and North America.
substantial Arab Christian minorities in Egypt, Given that English is the international language
Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and small numbers of of commerce, scholarship, and science, with sec-
Arabic-speaking Jews in Morocco—although ond-generation European, American, and
the numbers of both these communities have Canadian Muslims speaking English (as well as
rapidly declined in recent decades, mainly French, German, Dutch, and other European
through emigration. As the language of the tongues) the growth of English among Muslims
Koran, of Islamic scholarship and law, Arabic is a significant recent development.
long dominated the cultures of the Muslim The modern nation-state, based on interna-
world, closely followed by Persian—the lan- tionally recognized boundaries, a common lan-
guage of Iran and the Mughal courts in India. guage (in most cases), a common legal system,
The spread of Islam among non-Arab peo- and representative institutions (whether these are
ples, however, has made Arabic a minority lan- appointed or elected) is a recent phenomenon in
guage—although many non-Arab Muslims most of the Muslim world. Often imposed by
read the Koran in Arabic. An ethnographic sur- arrangements between the European powers,
vey published in 1983 lists more than 400 eth- modern boundaries cut across lines of linguis-
nic/linguistic groups who are Muslim. The tic/ethnic affiliation, leaving peoples such as
largest after the Arabs, in diminishing order, Kurds and Pushtuns divided into different states.
are Bengalis, Punjabis, Javanese, Urdu speak- Before the colonial interventions began to lock
ers, Anatolian Turks, Sundanese (from Eastern them into the international system of UN mem-
Java), Persians, Hausas, Malays, Azeris, ber states, Muslim states tended to be organized
Fulanis, Uzbeks, Pushtuns, Berbers, Sindhis, communally rather than territorially States were
.
Kurds, and Madurese (from the island of not bounded by lines drawn on maps. The power
Madura, northeast of Java). These groups of a government did not operate uniformly with-
number between nearly 100 million (Bengalis) in a fixed and generally recognized area, as hap-
down to 10 million (Sindhis, Kurds, and pened in Europe, but rather “radiated from a
Madurese). Of the hundreds of smaller groups number of urban centers with a force which tend-
listed, the smallest—the Wayto hunter gather- ed to grow weaker with distance and with the
ers in Ethiopia—number fewer than 2,000. existence of natural or human obstacles.”
However, three of the languages spoken by [Albert Hourani A History of the Arab Peoples
more than 10 million people—Javanese, London, Faber, revised ed. 2002, p. 138.] Patriot-
Sundanese, and Madurese—are in the course ism was focused, not as in Renaissance Italy,
of being overlaid by Bahasa Indonesia, the offi- England, or Holland, on the city, city-state, or
cial language taught in Indonesian schools. nation in the modern territorial sense, but on the
With Indonesians constituting the world’s clan or tribe within the larger frame of the
largest Muslim-majority nation, Bahasa umma, the worldwide Islamic community Local
.
20