Development of Islam as a Major Force
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Islam developed into a major force in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. It became so again under the direction of the Ottoman Turks from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The first period was the Golden Age of Islam, an age which ended as the Islamic world passed into an extended period of decline. But this decline did not mean the extinction of the core beliefs of Islam. A resurgence would come about after several centuries of retreat and seeming dormancy in the Islamic world. A number of reasons can be offered for the retreat of Islam during this interim period; among them are the military defeat in Spain, the invasion by the Mongols and the Tartars, the burning of the library in Baghdad, and the rise of the Ottomans as a military and political force. Further than these reasons, however, is the shift that took place in the Islamic world as a result of these forces. It experienced a shift from an outward orientation to an inward orientation. In other words, it went from a stance that was open to the world, a stance by which Islam flourished, to a period of being closed to the world, a period in which Islam did not flourish. Another way of viewing the change was that there was a turning away from true Islam to hybrid and opposing religious and cultural forces within the Islamic world itself. The history of Islam can be divided into distinct phases--the period of emergence extended from 610 to 661; the p
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ations, and often the Muslims did not make any radical changes in these new territories. Indeed, these extant civilizations had an influence on the Islamic world so that soon there was not the unity there had originally been. Instead there were new sects within Islam:
The Arabs had their own traditions, their own outlook on life. The non-Arab Muslims had their own traditions and their own outlook on life. Between the two there was conflict, struggle, and tension.
Afzal Iqbal emphasizes this tension as dividing the Muslim world. In fact it also served to invigorate that world with an infusion of new ideas, and with encouragement for inquiry into a variety of fields. The Islamic world in its developmental and expansionist phase, during the Golden Age, was open to ideas from outside just as it disseminated ideas to the outside world through open contacts. In Islam at that time, scientific inquiries were encouraged as much as philosophic inquiries. This had a basis in the Quran as that work persistently invites the faithful to examine the created world in order to appreciate the greatness and the power of God. Scientific knowledge of nature, the stars, the heavens, the earth, the flora, and the fauna therefore only reinfo
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Approximate Word count = 2765
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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