The advent of Islam in the first half of the 7th Century CE is one of the most significant events in world history. Islamic culture and beliefs have contributed to almost all other cultures in today’s world. Islam is still a forceful cultural and religious movement influencing day to day life of people living both in the West and in the East. As people from all corners of the globe are coming closer than ever before due to the availability of the internet and social media, they are more and more interested in knowing cultures and religions alien to them. This is the reason interest in the history of Islam has increased immensely in recent decades. A growing group of readers is curious to know how Islam started, spread and matured.
History is the art and science of studying the past. Historians reveal the past by assembling various pieces of evidence available to them about bygone events. These are called sources. Archaeologists help historians in the formidable task of discovering sources. Their job is to dig out historical material and analyse it objectively. Generating history is a cumbersome process, like making a picture from pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Each source works as one piece of the puzzle. Historian has to pick up numerous such pieces and put them together to make a recognizable picture. Often all pieces are still not available at the time of history being generated. It means the final picture of history will remain incomplete until further pieces are discovered.
The history of Islam, like any other history, is controversial. The reason is many historic sources available to historians are mutually contradicting. Naturally, experts analysing them might reach conflicting conclusions. Such conclusions are never final and debate around them is likely to continue.
To make things more complicated, new sources of the history of Islam come to light each passing year. The discovery of each new source changes our understanding of Islamic history. The history of Islam is an actively researched field. It evolves tremendously in a decade or so in the light of the latest discoveries that it has to be rewritten.
Any science deduces from the evidence that can be examined objectively. History, being a science, has nothing to do with dogmas or beliefs. The task of historians is to bring sources to light, scrutinize them impartially and make an unbiased hypothesis. Enthusiasts of history understand this process very well.
This text introduces the reader to the current status of the history of Islam as briefly as possible. It is not a final statement, but rather a stimulus for further reading on the subject. The reader is referred to original historic sources at each step. Significant modern studies are introduced to the reader side-by-side original sources. Both can be the starting point for further reading.
Islamic history always starts with pre-Islamic Arabia. Pre-Islamic Arab culture, politics, economy and traditions would have influenced Islam. Studying that time period is as interesting as studying the history of Islam itself. This text starts with pre-Islamic developments, discussed in the section on ‘pre-Islam’. Then it proceeds to the advent of Islam.
The section on ‘Advent of Islam’ discusses the period when Prophet Muhammad (founder of Islam) actively preached Islam. All events that are related to the advent of Islam are practically inseparable from the life and personality of Prophet Muhammad. It is, hence, customary to understand the advent of Islam through the biography of Prophet Muhammad. This text follows the custom. From Ibn Ishaq to Martin Lings, there is no deficiency in the biographies of Prophet Muhammad. The reader can refer to them as well. It is also customary to divide events of the advent of Islam into pre-hijrah and post-hijrah periods. This text follows this custom too.
The section on the ‘Spread of Islam’ deals with events and changes that took place during the tenure of the first four rulers in Islam. Those events and changes are of utmost importance to understanding the history of Islam. This period was very influential in shaping Islam as we know it today.
Then comes the ‘establishment of Islam.’ This is the story of a hundred or so years of Islam under the governance of the Umayyads. The era is as significant for shaping Islam as the tenure of the first four rulers in Islam.
Developments in politics and social life of Muslims after that will be added later on, piece by piece.
After cruising through events of the past, the text reaches the present day. The section on ‘current affairs’ discusses the situation of Muslims in the twenty-first century.
Finally, the section on the ‘future’ briefly browses the possibilities of the future of Muslims and Islam.
Sincerely,
Syed Nadeem Jaffri