Course notes of "Islamic Culture":

 
 
 
Appunti del corso Islamic Culture
di Luca Porcella
 
Appunti del corso di "Islamic Culture" tenuto dalla Prof.ssa Francesca Maria
Corrao per il corso di laurea magistrale in "International Relations", a.a.
2011/2012.
 
Gli appunti, scritti in inglese, illustrano le caratteristiche principali della cultura
islamica e toccano argomenti come la storia del mondo arabo, il ruolo delle
donne nei paesi musulmani e il sentimento di anti-americanismo diffuso in molti
paesi arabi.
 
Università: Libera Univ. Internaz. di Studi Soc. G.Carli-
(LUISS) di Roma
Facoltà: Scienze Politiche
Esame: Islamic Culture
Docente: Francesca Maria Corrao1. Muhammad, the Revelation and the Creation of the Umma
 
MUHAMMAD was the leader of a caravan and became known as a wise man. While he travelled he went in
touch with many traditions (e.g. sleeping in monasteries he knew the culture of monks). At a certain point
(around 612) he had a shock and started saying verses of the QUR’AN, that initially was transmitted by oral
tradition. 
 
Muhammad created the UMMA (“community”), that started to oppose the ruling class in Mecca, the
QURAYSH clan. (that controlled also the economic life of the city). In fact Muhammad, with his revolution,
attacked not only the religious affair but also the economic ones: he ordered to destroy all the temples and
the statues on the road to Mecca; he wanted to abolish slavery, etc. 
 
622: After his uncle’s death, Muhammad had to move to MEDINA, where was accepted as a wise man. 
 
-> Policy: he established MEDINA CONSTITUTION: it was one of the first examples of constitution
respecting different religions (WIMMA: non-Muslim religion community) -> the Islam was protecting
other religions with army (after the payment of a tax). This meant that, concerning civil law, Christians and
other religions could follow their own laws, while there was the Qu’ran holy law. 
 
630: Muhammad and the Umma went back to Mecca. 
 
632: Muhammad died. 
 
Luca Porcella Sezione Appunti
Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 2. The Organization of the Community
 
Qur’an is organized in chapters and each chapter is made of verses. 
-> how it is possible to organize an entire community on such a small evidence contained in verses? In a big
community rules are strongly needed. 
 
 
it was considered as law the BEHAVIOUR OF THE PROPHET: because he was a wise man, when there was
a problem people went to Muhammad and what he said and did became law (SUMMA). 
Until Muhammad was alive, he was the ruler and there was no problem. But when Muhammad died his
followers had to convert the Qu’ran in a written form because a wrong pronunciation could change the sense
of the Qu’ran and provoke misunderstandings 
 
-> Qur’an was written with the help of Muhammad’s closest friends, that collected the events and the
behaviours of the Prophet. Other people started collecting these behaviours. In order to assure the truth of
the behaviours, it was asked that every tradition should be accompanied by a  chain of witnesses to prove
that Muhammad had behaved like that. 
 
But during the time some LOCAL TRADITIONS were established due to somebody who was fake -> some
false behaviours became traditional in certain communities, that conserved them because they had became
part of local tradition, even if the transmission was not very reliable (but they were adopted only in Somalia,
Egypt, Sudan and a few of other countries). 
 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 3. The Pillars of Faith
 
1) SHAHADA 
2) SALÁT 
3) ZAQUÁT 
4) SAWM 
5) HAJJ 
6) (JIHÁD) 
 
1. SHAHADA: oath of faith of Muslims: “I do believe in God and Muhammad that is the Prophet” ->
Muslims refuse the paganism. 
 
2. SALAT (prayer): it has to be recited 5 times a day and consists of the 5th chapter of the Qur’an. A person
can pray everywhere but he always has to be directed to Mecca. The most symbolic moment is that in which
they get washed because it means purification -> they never touch Qur’an with dirty hands because in that
moment they have to be ready to get in touch with God. 
The spiritual moment of the prayer is an individual one: it involves the direct relation between the man and
God, differently from what happens in Christianity. On Fridays they go to the MOSQUE (considered the
house of the Prophet in Medina) for the KHUTBA, the discussion concerning faith 
The model of the Musk was taken from the architecture of a Christian church in Damascus, but in less than
two centuries it was created a new structure made of a long series of arches, especially in Spain -> typical
approach: Muslims enter in touch with new peoples, take their things and modify them to join their culture. 
 
3. ZAQUAT (alms): the alms is given to poor families and is also imposed by taxes. 
 
4. SAWM: FASTING is the occasion to purify the body one month a year, during the Ramadan. Who cannot
fast or doesn’t want to do it has to pay the food for a poor family. 
 
5. HAJJ: pilgrimage to Mecca. It has to be done at least one in a lifetime. 
 
6. JIHÁD (sacred effort, only for Shiites): it means the effort to be a good Muslim: normally Muslims are
obliged to follow the 5 pillars above, but Jihád is the way to make a higher step and really approach God. 
Islamic extremist groups use this word. Muhammad had made an oath with some groups, that later changed
their mind and started to intend this word as war, also because they think that changing faith would condemn
them to death. When Muhammad died, the oath became meaningless (the oath is between persons) -> Abu
Bakr tried to make again the oath with the tribes, but he didn’t succeed. 
Jihad is one of the main pillars, not only in the sense of war but also in the sense of convincing someone
who is not correctly behaving according to Islam. 
-> Jihad is used in an extreme concept, but it is not what all Muslim think about it. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 4. The Schools of Law
  
The laws were fixed by the ones who knew them very well. The caliph was able to take care of everything. 
Once arrived in Damascus they needed someone who could administrate the law 
 
4 schools of law developed: 
 
1. HANAFITA: 
- more liberal, more space to the jurist opinion; 
- they used the brain in order to find an analogy with the behaviour of the Prophet and the present case; 
- they were more open minded. 
 
2. MALIKITA: 
- more conservative; 
- approach strictly related to the Sura of Medina. The Mecca one is more spiritual, on the contrary this is
more related to the events. They are trying to adapt something that was issued in the time of a small
community, but now the situation is very different, people live in a huge dimension and coming from
different cultures -> this is why this school is so complicated. 
 
3. SHAFITA: 
- related to the strict groups of friends of the Prophet; 
- you can use interpretation in a conservative or a open-minded way. The more radical are coming from the
HANABALITE school. 
 
4. HANBALITE: 
- they developed under the Ottoman empire; 
- very strict; 
- they created a new school of law. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 5. Main Features of the Schools of Law
 
- These schools of law work by an opinion developed by the first generations in Medina. 
 
- Analogy is linked to the limit that the expert gives himself: he is aware that he can be mistaken. 
 
- The personal opinion of the judge is relevant, then it comes the effort of interpreting. 
IX century is the richest period of these schools, then we notice a stop of this effort of interpreting. 
 
- They created a sort of static condition. The Abbasid caliphate has reached the maximum of richness of
culture, then it came a slow decline until XII century -> destruction of the caliphate. 
 
Islamic law has different interpretation. The hadith is the same, but the change of opinion is really different
now. 
-> e.g. Egypt: there was a film that created a big shock in the debate in the oldest university in Cairo. It was
about a woman who had two kids. She had a terrible husband, who didn’t let her work. Politicians started to
discuss about this and Sadat organized a law who permitted the divorce for women. 
 
 
It’s important to give a more adaptable interpretation of law. But this law could not have any chance to
work in Saudi Arabia or in Libya. 
Years after they changed the opinion and the law was not applied anymore. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 6. The Abbasid Caliphate
 
- Abbasid caliphate is an hereditary regime; 
- it is characterized by military expansion. 
- a movement spread between ALIDI and KHARIGITI for rights and equality. In the Iranian area there were
lots of alliances with the Persians. 
 
--> fights between clans allied with the government and clans of the Alidi and Kharigiti. 
 
 
RELIGION 
The Turks – coming from central Asia – are converted to Islam. Before they were Buddhists: they used to
have a previous faith that needed to be adapted to Islam. 
 
Religious expansion in Central Asia, but the mythology of unity of Islamic culture is now over. 
Under Abbasid caliphate there is more input from outside. They take more TURKS to work in the army ->
Military leaders are Arabs and there are Turks in the army. 
 
SYNTHESIS and important link between tradition and modernization 
 
e.g. Baghdad school of translation -> Convergence of all these civilizations. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 7. The Development of Different Regimes
 
Under the Abbasid caliphate different Muslim regimes developed: 
- North Africa: FATIMIDI; 
- Iran: BUYIDI; 
- Anatolia: SELGIUCHIDI; 
- Baghdad: TUGHUL BEY; 
- The MONGOLS destroyed Baghdad and the caliphate; 
- MAMELUCCOS: sultans (Sultan means the man who has the power) in Egypt and Syria. 
 
 
Birth of the SULTANATE -> the caliph has only a spiritual role now.
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 8. The Mamluks
 
The Mamluks inspired an important part of the culture that, according to some scholars, is still present
nowadays. 
They didn’t rule in a huge area: in some times they were very powerful, in others they lose some power and
their territory was very limited. 
 
History 
 
- IBN TULUN (son of a Turk converted to Islam): he was sent to Egypt as a governor, but he was able to
took the power for himself and create a dynasty (the TULUNIDS), but it didn’t last much time. 
 
- Thousands of Mamluks were employed as servants (in fact Mamluk means “possessed”, and therefore
“slave”), especially in Egypt but during the time they organized as clan, with a chief that fought to impose
their order (around XII century). 
 
- Origins: in Egypt under AYYUBID Dinasty, with SALADIN who captured Jerusalem and consolidated the
dynasty -> Ayyubids acted as ATABEGS (“chiefs”) and in 1315 invaded Nubia. 
 
--> the Mamluks represented an example of the possibility to emerge and change status, from slaves to
chiefs. 
 
BAYBARS: 1250: first Mamluk that created a real dynasty (BAHRI). He stopped the Mongols and defeated
the Franks( the term Crusaders was known only in Europe because they were sent to fight in the name of the
Cross. In the Arab world they always were “the Franks”.). They were nominated caliphs after the Mongols
took Baghdad. 
 
The Mamluks and the Art of the Knights 
 
FURUSIYYA: Arab knightly martial exercise -> it means the art of being a knight and the art of being able
to organize a war (in fact one of the abilities required to a knight was to be a good player of chess, a game
created by the Persians). 
In the same time of the Furusiyya there was the spread of comic literature against the Mamluks -> e.g. ironic
stories about sultan Baybers 
 
how is it possible that, in the Middle Ages, we have at the same time a serious literature about Mamluks and
a comic production about this period? 
-> it can be appreciated as an expression of opposition, absolutely extraordinary in the Arab world. When
Baybers went to the power, he imposed a real dictatorship, so people were terrified, but still they had a sort
of possibility to express their own opinion against the ruler. 
 
More, the experience of the Mamluks is important because it shows that it is easier, in a world of clans, that
the people who are able to use the army can control the situation (as the Mamluks did) -> Sadat, Saddam
Luca Porcella Sezione Appunti
Appunti del corso Islamic Culture Hussein, Ben Ali, etc. were all “men of the army” -> it can be called Mamluk mentality. 
 
The Mamluks and Economy 
 
At the same time it is possible to observe the importance of the ECONOMIC element of the connection
between West and East: 
- Muhammad -> the silk road was closed; 
- Abbasids -> the silk road was open, it was a period of peace; 
- split between Arab princes, clans, Mamluks, Turkish chiefs -> the silk road was closed again; 
- Mamluks -> they had the control of the trade through sea (Yemen, Red Sea, Egypt, Mediterranean), until
XV century (when Magellano discovered the possibility to go to India without passing in the Arabian
Peninsula) 
 
--> this represented the end of Mamluks’ wellness (that derived from the relations with Europe)  
 
--> they became poor and weak -> Ottomans conquered their areas. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 9. The Ottoman Caliphate
 
The fact that at that time the clan had a chief, he might become the one, but this doesn't mean that he has to
succeed. 
 
- OTHMAN; 
 
- OHRAN; 
 
- MURAD: he was entering Europe, but he didn’t win against the Byzantines; 
 
- BAYAZID; 
 
- MEHEMET III: 
- SULAYMAN QANUNY: 
- AHMET III: 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 10. The Decline of the Ottomans in Favor of Western Powers
 
At a certain moment they had to compromise. When they started losing the wars they had to grant privilege
-> they granted protection of the minorities to the Russian area. 
 
It happened that those who were the representatives of the trade between Russia and the Turks had to be
protected -> they had to abolish certain taxes. Christians were the ones who traded. There was a huge
change in the state because before there was a very different social structure 
 
->A new class was born, the first that will start study history and politics as it is considered after the age of
the Enlightenment -> New emergent elite. 
 
This modern thought penetrated into Islam through the trade. 
They had another possibility: to protect the Christian churches in Syria and in Lebanon. There were now
schools where kids of the merchants could learn about western culture. So this elite came to know about the
idea of the French revolution and they made them feel to want a kind of evolution. 
-> They started sending children in Christian schools. The first revolution they could do: in Christian
schools kids use to pray and Muslims started to translate these singings. In this way they changed their
poetry and they began using other metaphors.  
 
A new rhythm spread among the poor people too -> this is how MODERNITY penetrates in Islamic
countries. 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture 11. The Ottomans after the Capitolations
 
1660: first defeat of the Ottomans (against the Russians) 
XVII century: CAPITOLATIONS -> the protection of the people of the Christian Millet passed under the
Russians -> this community gained a lot of privileges: 
 
- modern schools: they were still religious schools, but Christians wrote in a foreign language (Russian),
they could read original text and they could speak the language of the foreign traders; 
 
- they could become rich traders; 
 
- they were the first “revolutionary” people. 
 
At the beginnings only the Christians had these privileges, but soon many other communities could frequent
Russian schools -> they were the first intellectuals. 
 
How to spread this knowledge? 
The printing was spread only in XIX century -> first printing house in Cairo (before in Italy were printed
religious books for the Middle East). 
 
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Appunti del corso Islamic Culture