Islamic world

The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries in which Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion. The term Muslim-majority countries is an alternative often used for the latter sense.

The history of the Muslim world spans about 1,400 years and includes a variety of socio-political developments, as well as advances in the arts, science, medicine, philosophy, law, economics and technology, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age. All Muslims look for guidance to the Quran and believe in the prophetic mission of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but disagreements on other matters have led to the appearance of different religious schools of thought and sects within Islam. In the modern era, most of the Muslim world came under European colonial domination. The nation states that emerged in the post-colonial era have adopted a variety of political and economic models, and they have been affected by secular and as well as religious trends.

, the combined GDP (nominal) of 49 Muslim majority countries was US$5.7 trillion. , they contributed 8% of the world's total. In 2020 Economy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation which consists of 57 member states had combined GDP US$22 trillion or US$ 28 trillion with 5 OIC observer states which is equal about 22% world GDP. As of 2015, 1.8 billion or about 24.1% of the world population are Muslims. By the percentage of the total population in a region considering themselves Muslim, 91% in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA), 89% in Central Asia, 40% in Southeast Asia, 31% in South Asia, 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa, 25% in Asia–Oceania, around 6% in Europe, and 1% in the Americas.

Most Muslims are of one of two denominations: Sunni Islam (87-90%)*

Sunni Islam: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide
"Sunni Islam is the dominant division of the global Muslim community, and throughout history it has made up a substantial majority (85 to 90 percent) of that community."
*
* and Shia (10-13%).See
*
*
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* However, other denominations exist in pockets, such as Ibadi (primarily in Oman). About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country; % of Muslims live in South Asia, the largest population of Muslims in the world; % in the Middle East–North Africa, where it is the dominant religion; and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa, incl. Nigeria. Muslims are the overwhelming majority in Central Asia, the majority in the Caucasus, and widespread in Southeast Asia. India has the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Egypt are home to second, fourth, sixth and seventh largest Muslim populations. Sizeable Muslim communities are also found in the Americas, Russia, China, and Europe. Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world. China has the second largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries while Russia has the third largest Muslim population. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in Africa while Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in Asia.

Terminology

The term has been documented as early as 1912 to encompass the influence of perceived pan-Islamic propaganda. ''The Times'' described Pan-Islamism as a movement with power, importance, and cohesion born in Paris, where Turks, Arabs and Persians congregated. The correspondent's focus was on India: it would take too long to consider the progress made in various parts of the Muslim world. The article considered the position of the Amir, the effect of the Tripoli Campaign, Anglo-Russian action in Persia, and "Afghan Ambitions".''Pan-Islamism In India,'' FROM A CORRESPONDENT IN INDIA, Tuesday, 3 September 1912, The Times, Issue: 39994

In a modern geopolitical sense, the terms 'Muslim world' and 'Islamic world' refer to countries in which Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion. Some scholars and commentators have criticised the term 'Muslim/Islamic world' and its derivative terms 'Muslim/Islamic country' as "simplistic" and "binary", since no state has a religiously homogeneous population (e.g. Egypt's citizens are c. 10% Christians), and in absolute numbers, there are sometimes fewer Muslims living in countries in which they make up the majority than in countries in which they form a minority. Hence, the term 'Muslim-majority countries' is often preferred in literature.

Culture

Classical culture

File:Mahmud in robe from the caliph.jpg, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni receiving a richly decorated robe of honor from the caliph al-Qadir in 1000. Miniature from the Rashid al-Din's  Jami‘ al-Tawarikh
File:1541-Battle in the war between Shah Isma'il and the King of Shirvan-Shahnama-i-Isma'il.jpg, Battle between Ismail of the Safaviyya, Farrukh Yassar
File:Shah Abbas I and Vali Muhammad Khan.jpg, Shah of Safavid Empire Abbas I meet with Vali Muhammad Khan
File:Mir Sayyid Ali - Portrait of a Young Indian Scholar.jpg, Mir Sayyid Ali, a scholar writing a commentary on the Quran, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
File:Ottoman Dynasty, Portrait of a Painter, Reign of Mehmet II (1444-1481).jpg, Portrait of a painter during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II
File:6 Dust Muhammad. Portrait of Shah Abu'l Ma‘ali. ca. 1556 Aga Khan Collection.jpg, A Persian miniature of Shah Abu'l Ma‘ali, a scholar
File:DiezAlbumsStudyingTheKoran.jpg, Ilkhanate Empire ruler, Ghazan, studying the Quran
File:Laila and Majnun in School, New-York.jpg, Layla and Majnun studying together, from a Persian miniature painting

The term "Islamic Golden Age" has been attributed to a period in history during which science, economic development and cultural works in most of the Muslim-dominated world flourished.George Saliba (1994), ''A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam'', pp. 245, 250, 256–7. New York University Press, . The age is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world sought to translate and gather all the known world's knowledge into Arabic, and to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr," that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. During this period, the Muslim world was a collection of cultures; they drew together and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pp. 26–38

Ceramics

Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of ceramic glaze was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of fritware, originating from 9th-century Iraq. Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).

Literature

File:Brooklyn Museum - Manuscript of the Hadiqat al-Su`ada (Garden of the Blessed) of Fuzuli - Muhammad bin Sulayman known as Fuzuli2.jpg, ''Hadiqatus-suada'' by Oghuz Turkic poet Fuzûlî
File:Princess Parizade Bringing Home the Singing Tree.jpg, The story of ''Princess Parizade'' and the ''Magic Tree''.
File:Cassim (cropped).jpg, ''Cassim in the Cave'' by Maxfield Parrish.
File:Vasnetsov samolet.jpg, The Magic carpet.

The best known work of fiction from the Islamic world is '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (In Persian: ''hezār-o-yek šab'' > Arabic: ''ʔalf-layl-at-wa-l’-layla''= One thousand Night and (one) Night) or *'' Arabian Nights'', a name invented by early Western translators, which is a compilation of folk tales from Sanskrit, Persian, and later Arabian fables. The original concept is derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype ''Hezār Afsān'' (Thousand Fables) that relied on particular Indian elements. It reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another.Grant & Clute, p. 51 All Arabian fantasy tales tend to be called ''Arabian Nights'' stories when translated into English, regardless of whether they appear in ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' or not. This work has been very influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. Imitations were written, especially in France.Grant & Clute, p 52 Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.

A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance (love) is ''Layla and Majnun'', dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century. It is a tragic story of undying love. Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'', the national epic of Greater Iran, is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history. ''Amir Arsalan'' was also a popular mythical Persian story, which has influenced some modern works of fantasy fiction, such as ''The Heroic Legend of Arslan''.

Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first Arabic novel ''Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'' ('' Philosophus Autodidactus'') as a response to Al-Ghazali's ''The Incoherence of the Philosophers'', and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a novel '' Theologus Autodidactus'' as a response to Ibn Tufail's ''Philosophus Autodidactus''. Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in ''Philosophus Autodidactus'' and Kamil in '' Theologus Autodidactus'') who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story in ''Philosophus Autodidactus'', the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in ''Theologus Autodidactus'', developing into the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.

''Theologus Autodidactus'', written by the Arabian polymath Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288), is the first example of a science fiction novel. It deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, the end of the world and doomsday, resurrection, and the afterlife. Rather than giving supernatural or mythological explanations for these events, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using the scientific knowledge of biology, astronomy, cosmology and geology known in his time. Ibn al-Nafis' fiction explained Islamic religious teachings via science and Islamic philosophy.Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi (1982), "Ibn Al-Nafis as a philosopher", ''Symposium on Ibn al Nafis'', Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf.br>Ibnul-Nafees As a Philosopher
, ''Encyclopedia of Islamic World'').

A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, ''Philosophus Autodidactus'', first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations might have later inspired Daniel Defoe to write ''Robinson Crusoe'', regarded as the first novel in English.Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", ''Journal of Religion and Health'' 43 (4): 357–77 69Martin Wainwright
Desert island scripts
, ''The Guardian'', 22 March 2003. ''Philosophus Autodidactus'', continuing the thoughts of philosophers such as Aristotle from earlier ages, inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, ''The Aspiring Naturalist''.

Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy'', derived features of and episodes about '' Bolgia'' from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology: the ''Hadith'' and the '' Kitab al-Miraj'' (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly beforeI. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in ''Le Livre de l'échelle de Mahomet'', Latin edition and French translation by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection ''Lettres Gothiques'', Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22 with note 37. as '' Liber scalae Machometi'') concerning the ascension to Heaven of Muhammad, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi. The Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele's '' The Battle of Alcazar'' and Shakespeare's ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Titus Andronicus'' and '' Othello'', which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.

Philosophy

One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture.""Islamic Philosophy"
, ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (1998) Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims. The Persian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037) had more than 450 books attributed to him. His writings were concerned with various subjects, most notably philosophy and medicine. His medical textbook ''The Canon of Medicine'' was used as the standard text in European universities for centuries. He also wrote ''The Book of Healing'', an influential scientific and philosophical encyclopedia.

One of the most influential Muslim philosophers in the West was Averroes (Ibn Rushd), founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, whose works and commentaries affected the rise of secular thought in Europe.Majid Fakhry (2001). ''Averroes: His Life, Works and Influence''. Oneworld Publications. . He also developed the concept of "existence precedes essence".

Another figure from the Islamic Golden Age, Avicenna, also founded his own Avicennism school of philosophy, which was influential in both Islamic and Christian lands. He was also a critic of Aristotelian logic and founder of Avicennian logic, developed the concepts of empiricism and tabula rasa, and distinguished between essence and existence.

Yet another influential philosopher who had an influence on modern philosophy was Ibn Tufail. His philosophical novel, '' Hayy ibn Yaqdha'', translated into Latin as ''Philosophus Autodidactus'' in 1671, developed the themes of empiricism, tabula rasa, nature versus nurture, condition of possibility, materialism, and Molyneux's problem. European scholars and writers influenced by this novel include John Locke, Gottfried Leibniz, Melchisédech Thévenot, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens, George Keith, Robert Barclay, the Quakers, and Samuel Hartlib. G. J. Toomer (1996), ''Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England'', p. 222, Oxford University Press, .

Islamic philosophers continued making advances in philosophy through to the 17th century, when Mulla Sadra founded his school of Transcendent theosophy and developed the concept of existentialism.

Other influential Muslim philosophers include al-Jahiz, a pioneer in evolutionary thought; Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), a pioneer of phenomenology and the philosophy of science and a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Aristotle's concept of place (topos); Al-Biruni, a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy; Ibn Tufail and Ibn al-Nafis, pioneers of the philosophical novel; Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, founder of Illuminationist philosophy; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, a critic of Aristotelian logic and a pioneer of inductive logic; and Ibn Khaldun, a pioneer in the philosophy of history.Dr. S.R.W. Akhtar (1997). "The Islamic Concept of Knowledge", ''Al-Tawhid: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture'' 12 (3).

Sciences

Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experiment than the Greeks. This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from ''circa'' 1000, in his '' Book of Optics''. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Jim Al-Khalili stated in 2009 that Ibn al-Haytham is 'often referred to as the "world's first true scientist".' al-Khwarzimi's invented the log base systems that are being used today, he also contributed theorems in trigonometry as well as limits. Recent studies show that it is very likely that the Medieval Muslim artists were aware of advanced decagonal quasicrystal geometry (discovered half a millennium later in the 1970s and 1980s in the West) and used it in intricate decorative tilework in the architecture.

Muslim physicians contributed to the field of medicine, including the subjects of anatomy and physiology: such as in the 15th-century Persian work by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled ''Tashrih al-badan'' (''Anatomy of the body'') which contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems; or in the work of the Egyptian physician Ibn al-Nafis, who proposed the theory of pulmonary circulation. Avicenna's ''The Canon of Medicine'' remained an authoritative medical textbook in Europe until the 18th century. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (also known as ''Abulcasis'') contributed to the discipline of medical surgery with his '' Kitab al-Tasrif'' ("Book of Concessions"), a medical encyclopedia which was later translated to Latin and used in European and Muslim medical schools for centuries. Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacy.

In astronomy, Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥarrānī al-Battānī improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the geocentric model by al-Battani, Averroes, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Mu'ayyad al-Din al-'Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican heliocentric model. Heliocentric theories were also discussed by several other Muslim astronomers such as Al-Biruni, Al-Sijzi, Qotb al-Din Shirazi, and Najm al-Dīn al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī. The astrolabe, though originally developed by the Greeks, was perfected by Islamic astronomers and engineers, and was subsequently brought to Europe.

Some most famous scientists from the medieval Islamic world include Jābir ibn Hayyān, al-Farabi, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Biruni, Avicenna, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Ibn Khaldun.

Technology

In technology, the Muslim world adopted papermaking from China. The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China via predominantly Islamic countries, where formulas for pure potassium nitrate Ahmad Y. al-Hassan
Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises In Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
, ''History of Science and Technology in Islam''. were developed.

Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim-majority countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Islamic states between China and Europe. The emergence of major economic empires with technological resources after the conquests of Timur (Tamerlane) and the resurgence of the Timurid Renaissance include the Mali Empire and the India's Bengal Sultanate in particular, a major global trading nation in the world, described by the Europeans to be the "richest country to trade with".

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power and wind power, fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (''tiraz'' in Arabic). The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal- wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. A variety of industrial mills were being employed in the Islamic world, including early fulling mills, gristmills, paper mills, hullers, sawmills, ship mills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", ''Technology and Culture'' 46 (1), pp. 1–30 0 Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Ahmad Y. al-Hassan
Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering
Such advances made it possible for industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution, particularly from the proto-industrialised Mughal Bengal and Tipu Sultan's Kingdom, through the conquests of the East India Company.

History

The history of the Islamic faith as a religion and social institution begins with its inception around 610 CE, when the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a native of Mecca, is believed by Muslims to have received the first revelation of the Quran, and began to preach his message. In 622 CE, facing opposition in Mecca, he and his followers migrated to Yathrib (now Medina), where he was invited to establish a new constitution for the city under his leadership. This migration, called the Hijra, marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. By the time of his death, Muhammad had become the political and spiritual leader of Medina, Mecca, the surrounding region, and numerous other tribes in the Arabian Peninsula.

After Muhammad died in 632, his successors (the Caliphs) continued to lead the Muslim community based on his teachings and guidelines of the Quran. The majority of Muslims consider the first four successors to be 'rightly guided' or Rashidun. The conquests of the Rashidun Caliphate helped to spread Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula, stretching from northwest India, across Central Asia, the Near East, North Africa, southern Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees. The Arab Muslims were unable to conquer the entire Christian Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor during the Arab–Byzantine wars, however. The succeeding Umayyad Caliphate attempted two failed sieges of Constantinople in 674–678 and 717–718. Meanwhile, the Muslim community tore itself apart into the rivalling Sunni and Shia sects since the killing of caliph Uthman in 656, resulting in a succession crisis that has never been resolved. The following First, Second and Third Fitnas and finally the Abbasid Revolution (746–750) also definitively destroyed the political unity of the Muslims, who have been inhabiting multiple states ever since. Ghaznavids' rule was succeeded by the Ghurid Empire of Muhammad of Ghor and Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, whose reigns under the leadership of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji extended until the Bengal, where Indian Islamic missionaries achieved their greatest success in terms of dawah and number of converts to Islam. Qutb-ud-din Aybak conquered Delhi in 1206 and began the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, a successive series of dynasties that synthesized Indian civilization with the wider commercial and cultural networks of Africa and Eurasia, greatly increased demographic and economic growth in India and deterred Mongol incursion into the prosperous Indo-Gangetic Plain and enthroned one of the few female Muslim rulers, Razia Sultana.
Notable major empires dominated by Muslims, such as those of the Abbasids, Fatimids, Almoravids, Seljukids, Ajuran, Adal and Warsangali in Somalia, Mughals in the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan e.t.c), Safavids in Persia and Ottomans in Anatolia, were among the influential and distinguished powers in the world. 19th-century colonialism and 20th-century decolonisation have resulted in several independent Muslim-majority states around the world, with vastly differing attitudes towards and political influences granted to, or restricted for, Islam from country to country. These have revolved around the question of Islam's compatibility with other ideological concepts such as secularism, nationalism (especially Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism, as opposed to Pan-Islamism), socialism (see also Arab socialism and socialism in Iran), democracy (see Islamic democracy), republicanism (see also Islamic republic), liberalism and progressivism, feminism, capitalism and more.

Mongol invasions

File:Bagdad1258.jpg, The city of Baghdad being besieged during the Mongolian invasions.
File:Assassins2-alamut.jpg, Mongol armies capture of the Alamut, Persian miniature.

Gunpowder empires

Scholars often use the term Age of the Islamic Gunpowders to describe period the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal states. Each of these three empires had considerable military exploits using the newly developed firearms, especially cannon and small arms, to create their empires. They existed primarily between the fourteenth and the late seventeenth centuries. During the 17th–18th centuries, when the Indian subcontinent was ruled by Mughal Empire's sixth ruler Muhammad Auranzgeb through sharia and Islamic economics, India became the world's largest economy, valued 25% of world GDP.

File:Canonnier Persan. Auguste Wahlen. Moeurs, usages et costumes de tous les peuples du monde. 1843.jpg, Safavid Empire's Zamburak.
File:Bullocks dragging siege-guns up hill during the attack on Ranthambhor Fort.jpg, Bullocks dragging siege-guns up hill during Mughal Emperor Akbar's Siege of Ranthambore Fort in 1568.
File:The capture of Orchha by imperial forces (October 1635).jpg, The Mughal Army under the command of Islamist Aurangzeb recaptures Orchha in October 1635.
File:OttomanJanissariesAndDefendingKnightsOfStJohnSiegeOfRhodes1522.jpg, Gun-wielding Ottoman Janissaries in combat against the Knights of Saint John at the Siege of Rhodes in 1522.
File:The Dutch War in Sumatra, Guns captured at Acheen lying at Rotterdam.jpg, Cannons and guns belonging to the Aceh Sultanate (in modern Indonesia).

Great Divergence

The Great Divergence was the reason why European colonial powers militarily defeated preexisting Oriental powers like the Mughal Empire, starting from the wealthy Bengal Subah, Tipu Sultan's Kingdom of Mysore, the Ottoman Empire and many smaller states in the pre-modern Greater Middle East, and initiated a period known as 'colonialism'.

File:Shah Alam II, Mughal emperor of india, reviewing the East India Companys troops.jpg, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II negotiates with the East India Company after being defeated during the Battle of Buxar.
File:Clive.jpg, East India Company's Robert Clive meeting the Nawabs of Bengal before the Battle of Plassey.
File:January Suchodolski - Ochakiv siege.jpg, Siege of Ochakov (1788), an armed conflict between the Ottomans and the Russian Tsardom.
File:Сражение под Елисаветполем.jpeg, Combat during the Russo-Persian Wars.
File:Bataille du mont-thabor.jpg, French campaign in Egypt and Syria against the Mamluks and Ottomans.

Colonialism

Beginning with the 15th century, colonialism by European powers profoundly affected Muslim-majority societies in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Colonialism was often advanced by conflict with mercantile initiatives by colonial powers and caused tremendous social upheavals in Muslim-dominated societies.

A number of Muslim-majority societies reacted to Western powers with zealotry and thus initiating the rise of Pan-Islamism; or affirmed more traditionalist and inclusive cultural ideals; and in rare cases adopted modernity that was ushered by the colonial powers.

The only Muslim-majority regions not to be colonized by the Europeans were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Turkey was one of the first colonial powers of the world with the Ottoman empire ruling several states for over 6 centuries.

File:Défense de Mazagran.jpg, The French conquest of Algeria, from 1830 to 1903
File:MARIANO FORTUNY - La Batalla de Tetuán (Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, 1862-64. Óleo sobre lienzo, 300 x 972 cm).jpg, The Hispano-Moroccan War between Spain and Morocco, from 1859 to 1860
File:Libia-1911-Tripoli-conquista-bandiera-verde-del-profeta.jpg, The Italo-Turkish War between Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 1911 to 1912
File:Reprise Buda 1686.jpg, The Christian reconquest of Buda, Ottoman Hungary, 1686, painted by Frans Geffels
File:Vernet-Combat de Somah.jpg, French conquest of Algeria (1830–1857)
File:Battle of Omdurman.jpg, Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan 1896–1899
File:1 5 Campaña Africa 1909.jpg, The Melilla War between Spain and Rif Berbers of Morocco in 1909

Postcolonial era

In the 20th century, the end of the European colonial domination has led to creation of a number of nation states with significant Muslim populations. These states drew on Islamic traditions to varying degree and in various ways in organizing their legal, educational and economic systems. The Times first documented the term "Muslim world" in 1912 when describing Pan-Islamism as a movement with power importance and cohesion born in Paris where Turks, Arabs and Persians congregated. The article considered The position of the Amir; the effect of the Tripoli Campaign; Anglo-Russian action in Persia; and "Afghan Ambitions".

A significant change in the Muslim world was the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922), to which the Ottoman officer and Turkish revolutionary statesman Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had an instrumental role in ending and replacing it with the Republic of Turkey, a modern, secular democracy (see Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate). The secular values of Kemalist Turkey, which separated religion from the state with the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924, have sometimes been seen as the result of Western influence.

In the 21st century, after the September 11 attacks (2001) coordinated by the Wahhabi Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda against the United States, scholars considered the ramifications of seeking to understand Muslim experience through the framework of secular Enlightenment principles. Muhammad Atta, one of the 11 September hijackers, reportedly quoted from the Quran to allay his fears: "Fight them, and God will chastise them at your hands/And degrade them, and He will help you/Against them, and bring healing to the breasts of a people who believe", referring to the ''ummah'', the community of Muslim believers, and invoking the imagery of the early warriors of Islam who lead the faithful from the darkness of ''jahiliyyah''.

By Sayyid Qutb's definition of Islam, the faith is "a complete divorce from jahiliyyah". He complained that American churches served as centers of community social life that were "very hard odistinguish from places of fun and amusement". For Qutb, Western society was the modern ''jahliliyyah''. His understanding of the "Muslim world" and its "social order" was that, presented to the Western world as the result of practicing Islamic teachings, would impress "by the beauty and charm of true Islamic ideology". He argued that the values of the Enlightenment and its related precursor, the Scientific Revolution, "denies or suspends God's sovereignty on earth" and argued that strengthening "Islamic character"
was needed "to abolish the negative influences of ''jahili'' life."

Geography

According to a 2010 study and released January 2011, Islam had 1.5 billion adherents, making up c. 22% of the world population. Because the terms 'Muslim world' and 'Islamic world' are disputed, since no country is homogeneously Muslim, and there is no way to determine at what point a Muslim minority in a country is to be considered 'significant' enough, there is no consensus on how to define the Muslim world geographically. The only rule of thumb for inclusion which has some support, is that countries need to have a Muslim population of more than 50%. According to the Pew Research Center in 2015 there were 50 Muslim-majority countries. Jones (2005) defines a "large minority" as being between 30% and 50%, which described nine countries in 2000, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, North Macedonia, and Tanzania.

Islam is the second largest religion in numerous other countries, including: Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Georgia, Israel, India, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Muslim countries

As the Muslim world came into contact with secular ideals, societies responded in different ways. Some Muslim-majority countries are secular. Azerbaijan became the first secular republic in the Muslim world, between 1918 and 1920, before it was incorporated into the Soviet Union. Turkey has been governed as a secular state since the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. By contrast, the 1979 Iranian Revolution replaced a monarchial semi-secular regime with an Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini.

Some countries have declared Islam as the official state religion. In those countries, the legal code is largely secular. Only personal status matters pertaining to inheritance and marriage are governed by Sharia law.

Government and religion

Islamic states

Islamic states have adopted Islam as the ideological foundation of state and constitution.

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State religion

The following Muslim-majority nation-states have endorsed Islam as their state religion, and though they may guarantee freedom of religion for citizens, do not declare a separation of state and religion:

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Secular states

Secular states in the Muslim world have declared separation between civil/government affairs and religion.

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Muslim-minority states

There are sizeable Muslim populations in China and Russia.

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Law and ethics

In some states, Muslim ethnic groups enjoy considerable autonomy.

In some places, Muslims implement Islamic law, called sharia in Arabic. The Islamic law exists in a number of variations, called schools of jurisprudence. The Amman Message