Case Studies

SPREAD OF ISLAM

ISLAM INTO INDIA • Turks became the third carrier of the faith. The Arabs and Persians led the initial

transmission.

• Advantage of Turkish peoples as carriers of ideas?

• Initial conquest of India filled with social and cultural intolerance—Babur excerpt.

MALAWI IN INDIA • Pattern of conversion to Islam

• Status in India—challenges to Hinduism?

• Demographics

• Contrasting Islam and Hinduism

SYNCRETIC BLEND• Islam and Hinduism began to merge in India into something called “Sikhism”.

• Sikhism is based on the teachings of the blind Guru Nanak

• “There is no Hindu, and no Muslim, All are Children of God.”

• "Realization of Truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living“

• Monotheistic and Revealed Faith

• “faithful warriors”

• “Sahib”

ISLAM INTO ANATOLIA• Large Christian population

• Heavy Greek influence

• Gradually eroded the once mighty Byzantine influence

• Constantinople fell after nearly 500 years of siege by the Ottoman Empire in 1453

• By 1500 90% of the region was Muslim

• Results very different from India…why?

DIFFERENCES WITH INDIA • Smaller more homogenous population than India

• Destruction of indigenous religious power in the area—Christianity

• Byzantine Orthodoxy and “Caesaropapism”.

• Caste versus non-Caste state

• Respect for Christianity and Jewish faith—tolerance.

• Role of sufi missionaries

• Benevolent roles of Islam

ISLAM INTO WEST AFRICA• Islam accompanied diverse traders—not one unified group as was the case in other

situations

• Developed without the same “orthodoxy”

• Key point was acceptance of commerce

• Political organization was welcoming to local rulers

• African Islam began to develop—unwillingness of Arab and Persians to settle the area

• Ibn Battuta

THE AL-ANDALUS• Conquered by Arab and Berber forces

• It didn’t overwhelm Christianity as it did in aging Byzantine state

• Magnificence of Cordoba “The Jewel of the World”

• “Mozarabs”

• Toleration eroded after the 10 th century

• Spain became a place known for religious intolerance (Inquisition)

• Abu Amir al-Mansur that rare historical example of intolerance—this ripped apart the Al-Andalus

• “The era of harmonious interaction between Muslim and Christians in Spain came to an end replaced by intolerance, prejudice, and mutual suspicion.”

• “Reconquista” became the goal of Europe