Transformation of Islam: Islam in the societies of Central Asia

(Pg. 610) Over time, the Islamic empire displayed into bigger territories. From 1300 to 1700, three “Gunpowder empires” dominated parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia: the

The Ottoman and Safavid Empires share many similarities. Their courts were set-up alike, each empire advanced artistically, and both were deeply rooted within the Islam religion. Although these empires were alike in many ways, the form of Muslim each empire adopted were different. This paper will focus on the religion used by both empires as a pillar to governing its people, but also the differences between the sub-cultures adopted by each empire.

Over the 100 years that Islam expanded, the Arabs collected a wealth of science, philosophy and arts from lands they had conquered as they grew. By the tenth century, nearly all Greek texts were translated into Arabic as a result of the Translation Movement. They preserved a lot of Greek works that would have been lost otherwise. At the time they were thought of as the greatest scholars because of all of the knowledge they combined from different countries. For example, the Greeks liked geometry, and the Hindus liked algebra and arithmetic, so the Arabians developed a combination of both called trigonometry, used for astronomical purposes with the ratios called trigonometric functions. The Islamic people contributed to transmission of knowledge in Europe by all of the writing they had sought after to make their own. It gave them so much more information than other countries. As more expansion occurred, the Greek scientific writings moved westward through the Islamic world and reached Spain by the 9th century.

In the article, “A Silk Road Legacy: The Spread of Buddhism and Islam” by Xinru Liu, the author discusses the dominance of Buddhism in Central Asia and how the religion made its way from Central Asia into China, India, and other parts of Asia. Xinru Liu also discusses how the regions in Central Asia were divided into many city-states that never unified. Because of this, no region in Central Asia ever had an official religion and there was a variety of religions practiced by the people, such as Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. Xinru Liu also points out the Arab conquest to Central Asia and the important Silk Road trading stations that were located there that they wanted control of. Xinru Liu discusses the introduction of Islam to Central Asia during this conquest and how it was established there and then later spread to other parts of Asia, such as India. Finally, Xinru Liu discusses the influence on Central Asians from many different outsiders and what life was like for the people before, during, and after the rise of the Islamic Empire and how Central Asians have survived and thrived under the constant changing environment.

Beginning with Muhammad’s age from the start of 7th century Islam, Islamic culture and politics have gone a great many events and occurrences. Throughout all of its years, it has boasted both a rich culture and technological/intellectual advancements. The preservation of the Quran, developments in mathematics, and the continued emphasis on respect and charitable nature are just some examples of Islamic achievement. However, as with any growing civilization, Islam has evolved beyond what it originated as. The cultural and political life of Islamic civilization beginning in the 7th century to the end of the Abbasids of the 13th century underwent many changes such as the deteriorating view of women in society and the shift from elected caliphates to dynastical caliphate. But, one aspect that persisted were the religious beliefs and traditions followed by the Islamic people.

In its Golden Age, Islam’s influence reached all the way to Spain, Anatolia, West Africa, and India, among other regions. While these regions were all, in a way, united under a common religion, each of them both altered and were altered by Islam in their own unique ways. Although there were similarities that existed with the spread of Islam to each of those places, many more differences prevailed. Differences and similarities existed in the forms of the role of migration, role of trade, role of cultural exchange, methods of conversion to Islam, and the unique cultural developments in each region.

In conclusion, in the beginning of 13 century, the Middle East were dominated by non-Arabic Dynasties .Nevertheless ,The Ottoman Empire and Mongol Empire can be considered as the most important non-Arab empire in term of impacts. In fact, they influenced the Arab speaking land in several domain, such as economy, politics, religion and society and the consequence were mostly

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

Ibn Sina changed the world’s way of thinking with his new philosophy, and his original way of thought led to current scientific inquiry. Tome Pires showed that differences in philosophies can lead

For hundreds of years, Russia has been one of the most diverse countries of the western world, where Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully side by side. Unlike other western countries where Muslims are minorities, Muslims in Russia are more than 15% of the Russian population. Muslims in Russia have played a huge role in founding what is known nowadays as the Russian civilization.

As history continues, many religions have had an over powering effect on western civilization. When the 5th century arose, the religion, Islam, had an extremely important impact on the civilization. Muhammad, an Arabic prophet founded Islam and began to introduce it the people of his time. Diplomacy, violence, warfare, public laws, and Arabic tradition played a crucial role in the building of the Islamic religion. These important aspects helped shape and build the Islam religion that is now one of the world’s most widely practiced religions.

The author in his introduction sets out the goals of sharing the fascinating Muslim history he has uncovered in his reading and research, a history full of invention, creativity, great ideas, tolerance, and coexistence. This culture seeded the European Renaissance and enabled many aspects of the modern western and global civilization. The impetus for the book came after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, as the author felt the need at the beginning of the 21st Century to share this forgotten, ignored, misunderstand, suppressed, and even rewritten history with the wider community. The result was the book Lost History, and what a great job the author has done. It is one of the most informative, researched, and relevant books.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has been an active terrorist group in Central Asia since 1991. Before 1991, it was not structured and consisted of different extremist’s small groups, in particular the Adalat group. Its original goals were to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan, in particular Uzbekistan’s President Karimov and to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Central Asian countries. After the United States of America’s invasion of Afghanistan that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, the IMU reallocated to the borders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. During this time, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s leaders were killed, Juma Namangani in November 2001 and Tahir Yuldashev, in August 2009. Despite changes within the group, they continued to operate in and around South Waziristan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, against Coalition Forces. Today, the IMU takes the form of a decentralized network that has become unpredictable, making it hard to target. Even though it is displaced from their original areas of operations, the IMU continues to persevere. There is a risk in the future that the IMU will thrive and pose a danger with its new allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Islam, Gender and Education in Kazakhstan Nazgul Mingisheva (Karaganda Bolashak University, Kazakhstan) nazgulm2006@gmail.com Paper presented at the ASN World Convention Columbia University, April 19-21 2012 Please do not cite without the author’s permission © Nazgul Mingisheva

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was first established in 1997, but can draw its routes from the Adolat (Justice) movement formed in 1991 by Juma Namagani and Tahir Yuldashev in Namagan, Uzbekistan (Jane’s World, 2014). “Adolat declared Namangan an independent Islamic entity and attempted to enforce sharia (Islamic law) using vigilante methods” (Jane’s World, 2014, Group Formation para. 1). The President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, nervously tried to negotiate with Adolate, but later forced the group out of Uzbekistan (Sanderson, T., Kimmage, D., & Gordon, D., 2010). The Adolate fled arrest in Uzbekistan and moved to Tajikistan where it supported the United Tajik Opposition