The terms
Muslim

Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the unified
Islamic community (Ummah), consisting of all those who adhere to the
religion of Islam,[1] or to societies where
Islam

Islam is practiced.[2][3]
In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries where
Islam

Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for
inclusion.[4][3] 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%
Christian), and in absolute numbers, there are sometimes fewer Muslims
living in countries where they make up the majority than in countries
where they form a minority.[5][6][7] Hence, the term Muslim-majority
countries is often preferred in literature.[8]
The history of the
Muslim

Muslim world spans about 1400 years and includes a
variety of socio-political developments, as well as advances in the
arts, science, philosophy, and technology, particularly during the
Islamic Golden Age.[citation needed] All
Muslims

Muslims look for guidance to
the
Quran

Quran and believe in the prophetic mission of Muhammad,[citation
needed] but disagreements on other matters have led to appearance of
different religious schools and branches within Islam. In the modern
era, most of the
Muslim

Muslim world came under influence or colonial
domination of European powers. 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.[citation needed]
As of 2013[update], the combined GDP (nominal) of 49
Muslim

Muslim majority
countries was US$ 5.7 trillion,[9] As of 2016[update], they
contributed 8% of the world's total.[10] As of 2015, 1.8 billion or
about 24.1% of the world population are Muslims.[11] By the percentage
of the total population in a region considering themselves Muslim, 91%
in the Middle East-
North Africa

North Africa (MENA),[12] 89% in Central Asia,[13]
40% in Southeast Asia,[14] 31% in South Asia,[15][16] 30% in
Sub-Saharan Africa,[17] 25% in Asia–Oceania,[18] around 6% in
Europe,[19] and 1% in the Americas.[20][21][22][23]
Contents
1 History
1.1 Classical culture
1.1.1 Ceramics
1.1.2 Literature
1.1.3 Philosophy
1.1.4 Sciences
1.1.5 Technology
1.2
Gunpowder

Gunpowder Empires
1.3 Great Divergence
1.3.1 Colonialism
1.4 Postcolonial era
2 Geography
3 Demographics
3.1 Religion
3.1.1 Islamic schools and branches
3.2 Refugees
4 Education
4.1 Literacy
4.2 Scholarship
5 Culture
5.1 Arts
5.1.1 Architecture
5.1.2 Aniconism
5.1.3 Arabesque
5.1.4 Girih
5.1.5 Islamic calligraphy
5.2 Calendar
5.2.1 Islamic lunar calendar
5.2.2 Solar Hijri calendar
5.3 Contemporary developments
6 Government
6.1
Democracy

Democracy and compulsion indexes
6.2 Religion and state
6.2.1 Islamic states
6.2.2 State religion
6.2.3 Unclear / No Declaration
6.2.4 Secular states
6.3 Law and ethics
6.4 Politics
6.4.1 Islamism
6.4.2 Islam-based intergovernmental organizations
7 Gallery
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
History[edit]
Main articles: History of
Islam

Islam and Timeline of Islamic history
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by
Al-Idrisi
.jpg/500px-Estatua_de_Al-Idrisi_bajo_el_baluarte_de_los_Mallorquines,_Ceuta_(5).jpg)
Al-Idrisi in 1154, one of the most
advanced ancient world maps.
Al-Idrisi
.jpg/500px-Estatua_de_Al-Idrisi_bajo_el_baluarte_de_los_Mallorquines,_Ceuta_(5).jpg)
Al-Idrisi also wrote about the diverse
Muslim

Muslim communities found in various lands.
Muslim

Muslim history involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion
and as a social institution. The history of
Islam

Islam began in the Arabian
Peninsula when the Islamic prophet
Muhammad

Muhammad allegedly received the
first revelation of the
Quran

Quran in the 7th century in the cave of Hira
in the month of Ramadan. According to tradition, he was supposedly
commanded by
Allah

Allah to convey this message to the people, and to be
patient with those hostile to it. These included the leaders of the
Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca, who opposed the assertion of
tawhid (monotheism) and abolishing what Muhammed branded "idolatry",
meaning the worship of gods other than
Allah

Allah at the Kaaba, such as
Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt,
Al-‘Uzzá

Al-‘Uzzá and Manāt. After 13
years of spreading this message, despite increased persecution by the
Quraysh,
Muhammad

Muhammad and his followers migrated to
Medina

Medina to establish a
new state under the prophet's leadership and away from persecution.
This migration, called the Hijra, marks the first year of the Islamic
calendar.
Islam

Islam was then spread to other parts of the Arabian
Peninsula over the course of Muhammad's life.
After
Muhammad

Muhammad died in 632, his successors (the Caliphs) continued to
lead the
Muslim

Muslim community based on his teachings and guidelines of the
Quran. The majority of
Muslims

Muslims consider the first four successors to
be 'rightly guided' or Rashidun. The
Rashidun

Rashidun Caliphate's conquests
spread
Islam

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

Christian
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire in Asia
Minor, however. The succeeding
Umayyad Caliphate

Umayyad Caliphate attempted two failed
sieges of
Constantinople

Constantinople in 674–678 and 717–718. Meanwhile, the
Muslim

Muslim community tore itself apart into the rivalling
Sunni

Sunni and Shia
sects since the killing of caliph Uthman in 656, resulting in a
succession crisis that has never been resolved.[24] 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.[25]
Subsequent 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,
Afghanistan

Afghanistan e.t.c), Safavids in
Persia

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

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

Arab socialism and socialism in Iran), democracy (see
Islamic democracy), republicanism (see also Islamic republic),
liberalism and progressivism, feminism, capitalism and more.
Classical culture[edit]
Main article: Islamic Golden Age
Battle of Jabani (Shirvanshahs-Turkic culture)
Shah

Shah of
Safavid

Safavid Empire Abbas I meet with Vali
Muhammad

Muhammad Khan (Safavid
Turkic culture)
Mir Sayyid Ali, a scholar writing a commentary on the Quran, during
the reign of the
Mughal Emperor

Mughal Emperor
Shah

Shah Jahan (Indian/Pakistani culture).
Portrait of a painter during the reign of Ottoman
Sultan

Sultan Mehmet II
(Turkish culture).
A
Persian miniature

Persian miniature of
Shah

Shah Abu'l Ma‘ali, a scholar
(Ghaznavids-Turkic culture)
Ilkhanate

Ilkhanate Empire ruler, Ghazan, studying the
Quran

Quran (Azerbaijani
culture).
Azerbaijani love story
Layla and Majnun

Layla and Majnun studying together, from a
Persian miniature

Persian miniature painting (Turko-Persian culture).
The term "Islamic Golden Age" has been attributed to a period in
history wherein science, economic development and cultural works in
most of the Muslim-dominated world flourished.[26][27] The age is
traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid
caliph
Harun al-Rashid

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,[28][29] and to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid
caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of
Baghdad

Baghdad in
1258.[30] The
Abbasids

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.[31] During this period, the
Muslim

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.[32]
Ceramics[edit]
Further information: Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
A Seljuq, shatranj (chess) set, glazed fritware, 12th century.
Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of ceramic glaze was
prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate
pottery.[33] 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.[34] Other centers for
innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included
Fustat

Fustat (from 975
to 1075),
Damascus
.svg/500px-Damascus_in_Syria_(_Golan_hatched).svg.png)
Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and
Tabriz

Tabriz (from 1470 to
1550).[35]
Literature[edit]
Main article: Islamic literature
Further information: Islamic poetry
Hadiqatus-suada by popular Azerbaijani Oghuz poetry Fuzûlî
The story of Princess Parizade and the Magic Tree.[36]
Ali Baba

Ali Baba by Maxfield Parrish.
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.[37] It reached its final form by the 14th
century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript
to another.[38] 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

One Thousand and One Nights or not.[38]
This work has been very influential in the West since it was
translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland.[39]
Imitations were written, especially in France.[40] Various characters
from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western
culture, such as Aladdin,
Sinbad the Sailor

Sinbad the Sailor and
Ali

Ali Baba.
A famous example of
Arabic poetry

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 much like the later
Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a
Latin version of
Layla and Majnun

Layla and Majnun to an extent.[41] Ferdowsi's
Shahnameh, the national epic of 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

Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the
philosophical novel.
Ibn Tufail wrote the first
Arabic

Arabic novel Hayy ibn
Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus) as a response to Al-Ghazali's The
Incoherence of the Philosophers, and then
Ibn al-Nafis

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.[42][43]
Theologus Autodidactus,[44][45] written by the Arabian polymath Ibn
al-Nafis (1213–1288), is the first example of a science fiction
novel.[46] 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

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.[47]
A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus,
first appeared in 1671, prepared by
Edward Pococke

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

Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first
novel in English.[48][49][50][51] Philosophus Autodidactus, continuing
the thoughts of philosophers such as
Aristotle

Aristotle from earlier ages,
inspired
Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an
island, The Aspiring Naturalist.[52]
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy,[53] derived features of and episodes
about Bolgia[54] from
Arabic

Arabic works on Islamic eschatology:[55][56] the
Hadith

Hadith and the
Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or
shortly before[57] as Liber Scale Machometi[58]) concerning the
ascension to Heaven of Muhammad,[59] and the spiritual writings of Ibn
Arabi.[60] The
Moors

Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of
George Peele
.jpg/440px-Henry_Percy,_9th_Earl_of_Northumberland_(3773672044).jpg)
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
.jpg/300px-Titus_Andronicus_F1_(1623).jpg)
Titus Andronicus and Othello,
which featured a Moorish
Othello

Othello as its title character. These works
are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from
Morocco

Morocco to Elizabethan
England

England at the beginning of the 17th
century.[61]
Philosophy[edit]
Main article: Contemporary Islamic philosophy
Further information: Logic in
Islamic philosophy

Islamic philosophy and Ilm al-Kalam
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
Muslim

Muslim polymath from Spain.
One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style
of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture."[62]
Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily
concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by
Muslims.[62] 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

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

Muslim philosophers in the West was
Averroes

Averroes (Ibn Rushd), founder of the
Averroism

Averroism school of philosophy,
whose works and commentaries affected the rise of secular thought in
Europe.[63] He also developed the concept of "existence precedes
essence".[64]
Another figure from the Islamic Golden Age, Avicenna, also founded his
own Avicennism school of philosophy, which was influential in both
Islamic and
Christian

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.[citation needed]
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,[65]
condition of possibility, materialism,[66] and Molyneux's problem.[67]
European scholars and writers influenced by this novel include John
Locke,[68] Gottfried Leibniz,[51] Melchisédech Thévenot, John
Wallis, Christiaan Huygens,[69] George Keith, Robert Barclay, the
Quakers,[70] and Samuel Hartlib.[52]
Islamic philosophers continued making advances in philosophy through
to the 17th century, when
Mulla Sadra

Mulla Sadra founded his school of
Transcendent theosophy and developed the concept of
existentialism.[71]
Other influential
Muslim

Muslim philosophers include al-Jahiz, a pioneer in
evolutionary thought;
Ibn al-Haytham

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.[72]
Sciences[edit]
Main article: Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world
See also: Physics in medieval Islam, Psychology in medieval Islam,
Mathematics in medieval Islam, Astronomy in medieval Islam, and
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Sciences
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Astrolabe. (13th century)
One of
Mansur ibn Ilyas (
Ak Koyunlu

Ak Koyunlu era) colored illustrations of
human anatomy.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi's Kitab al-Tasrif
Surgical instruments illustrations. (11th century)
A self-trimming lamp from Banū Mūsā's work On Mechanical Devices on
Automation.
An illustration from al-Biruni's astronomical works, explains the
different phases of the moon.
The
Elephant Clock

Elephant Clock was one of the most famous inventions of Al-Jazari.
"Cubic equations and intersections of conic sections", of Omar
Khayyam.
Lagâri Hasan Çelebi's rocket flight depicted in a 17th-century
engraving.
Muslim

Muslim scientists contributed to advances in the sciences. They placed
far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks. This led to an
early scientific method being developed in the
Muslim

Muslim world, where
progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of
Ibn al-Haytham

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

Muslim scientists.
Ibn al-Haytham

Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father
of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission
theory of light. Some have also described
Ibn al-Haytham

Ibn al-Haytham as the "first
scientist."[73] al-Khwarzimi's invented the log base systems that are
being used today, he also contributed theorems in trigonometry as well
as limits.[74] Recent studies show that it is very likely that the
Medieval
Muslim

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.[75]
Muslim

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

Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled
Tashrih al-badan (
Anatomy

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

Europe until the 18th
century.
Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi

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

Muslim medical schools for centuries.
Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and
pharmacy.[76]
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

Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican
heliocentric model. Heliocentric theories were also discussed by
several other
Muslim

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[edit]
The
Spinning wheel

Spinning wheel is believed to have been invented in the medieval
era (of what is now the Greater Middle East), it is considered to be
an important device that contributed greatly to the advancement of the
Industrial Revolution. (scene from Al-Maqamat, painted by al-Wasiti
1237)
Main articles:
List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world

List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world and
Arab Agricultural Revolution
In technology, the
Muslim

Muslim world adopted papermaking from China.[77]
The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from
China

China via
predominantly Islamic countries,[78] where formulas for pure potassium
nitrate[79][80] 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

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

Genoa and Catalonia. The
Silk Road

Silk Road crossing
Central Asia

Central Asia passed through
Muslim

Muslim states between
China

China and Europe.
Muslim

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,[81] fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early
large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).[82] 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, 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

North Africa to the
Middle East
.svg/440px-Middle_East_(orthographic_projection).svg.png)
Middle East and Central Asia.[77]
Muslim

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.[83] 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

Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution.[84]
Gunpowder

Gunpowder Empires[edit]
Scholars often use the term
Gunpowder

Gunpowder Empires to describe the Islamic
empires of the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal. Each of these three
empires had considerable military exploits using the newly developed
firearms, especially cannon and small arms, to create their
empires.[85] They existed primarily between the fourteenth and the
late seventeenth centuries.[86]
Safavid

Safavid Empire's Zamburak.
Bullocks dragging siege-guns up hill during
Mughal Emperor

Mughal Emperor Akbar's
Siege of Ranthambore Fort in 1568.[87]
Gun-wielding Ottoman Janissaries in combat against the Knights of
Saint John at the Siege of Rhodes in 1522.
Cannons and guns belonging to the
Aceh Sultanate

Aceh Sultanate (in modern
Indonesia).
Great Divergence[edit]
Main article: Great Divergence
"Why do the
Christian

Christian nations, which were so weak in the past compared
with
Muslim

Muslim nations begin to dominate so many lands in modern times
and even defeat the once victorious Ottoman armies?"..."Because they
have laws and rules invented by reason"
Ibrahim Muteferrika, Rational basis for the Politics of Nations
(1731)[88]
The
Great Divergence

Great Divergence was the reason why European colonial powers
militarily defeated preexisting Oriental powers like the Mughal
Empire,
Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire and many smaller states in the pre-modern
Greater Middle East, and initiated a period known as
'colonialism'.[88]
Mughal Emperor

Mughal Emperor
Shah

Shah Alam II negotiates with the British East India
Company after being defeated during the Battle of Buxar.
Siege of Ochakov (1788), an armed conflict between the Ottomans and
the Russian Tsardom.
Combat in the
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan (during the Russo-Persian Wars).
French campaign in
Egypt

Egypt and
Syria

Syria against the Mamluks and Ottomans
Colonialism[edit]
Main articles:
Colonial empire

Colonial empire and Colonialism
Map of colonial powers throughout the world in the year 1914 (note
colonial powers in the pre-modern
Muslim

Muslim world).
Beginning with the 15th century, colonialism by European powers
(particularly, but not exclusively, Britain, Spain, Portugal, France,
the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Belgium)
profoundly affected Muslim-majority societies in Africa, Europe, the
Middle East
.svg/440px-Middle_East_(orthographic_projection).svg.png)
Middle East and Asia.
Colonialism

Colonialism was often advanced by conflict with
mercantile initiatives by colonial powers and caused tremendous social
upheavals in Muslim-dominated societies.[citation needed]
Colonial powers commonly classified Muslim-majority societies that
were highly heterogeneous as monolithic, anti-modern and
anti-intellectual.[citation needed]
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.[89]
The only Muslim-majority regions not to be colonized by the Europeans
were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan.[citation needed]
Turkey

Turkey was one of the first colonial powers of the world with the
Ottoman empire

Ottoman empire ruling several states for over 6 centuries.
The
Christian

Christian reconquest of Buda, Ottoman Hungary, 1686
The submission of
Diponegoro

Diponegoro to General De Kock at the end of the Java
War in 1830
French conquest of Algeria

French conquest of Algeria (1830–1857)
Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan 1896–1899
The Melilla War between
Spain
.jpg/340px-Hispasat_30W-6_Mission_(39951085264).jpg)
Spain and Rif Berbers of
Morocco

Morocco in 1909
Postcolonial era[edit]
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Many disputes have occurred within the
Muslim

Muslim community regarding how
to manage, organize and administer their respective countries.
Geography[edit]
Indonesia

Indonesia is currently the most populous Muslim-majority country.
Main article:
Islam

Islam by country
Because the terms '
Muslim

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

Muslim minority in a country is to be
considered 'significant' enough, there is no consensus on how to
define the
Muslim

Muslim world geographically.[5][6][8] The only rule of
thumb for inclusion which has some support, is that countries need to
have a
Muslim

Muslim population of more than 50%.[5][8] Jones (2005) defines
a 'large minority' as being between 30% and 50%; thus, there were nine
countries with a 'large
Muslim

Muslim minority' in 2000, namely Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast,
Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.[8]
According to a 2010 study and released January 2011,[90][91]
Islam

Islam has
1.5 billion adherents, making up over 22% of the world
population.[92][93][94] According to the
Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center in 2015
there were 50 Muslim-majority countries.[95][96]
Worldatlas.com (April 2017) identified 45 'Islamic countries'. Among
the Islamic states are: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran,
Mauritania, and Yemen. Other states where
Islam

Islam is the politically
defined state religion are: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria,
Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates,
Somalia

Somalia and Brunei. Other Muslim-majority countries include: Niger,
Indonesia, Sudan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sierra Leone, and Djibouti,
Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia,
Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Northern Cyprus,
Nigeria, Senegal, Syria, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Turkey

Turkey and
Uzbekistan.[97]
Demographics[edit]
Main article:
Muslim

Muslim population growth
View of Jakarta, Indonesia. The country has the largest number of
Muslims

Muslims in the world.
More than 24.1% of the world's population is Muslim.[98][99] Current
estimates conclude that the number of
Muslims

Muslims in the world is around
1.8 billion.[98]
Muslims

Muslims are the majority in 49 countries,[100] they
speak hundreds of languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Major languages spoken by
Muslims

Muslims include Arabic, Hindi, Bengali,
Urdu, Punjabi, Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Swahili, Hausa, Fula,
Berber, Tuareg, Somali, Albanian, Spanish, Bosnian, Russian, Turkish,
Azeri, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tatar, Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Tamil, Telugu,
Balochi, Sindhi and Kashmiri, among many others.
Religion[edit]
The two main denominations of
Islam

Islam are the
Sunni

Sunni and Shia sects. They
differ primarily upon of how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should
be governed, and the role of the imam. Sunnis believe that the true
political successor of the Prophet according to the
Sunnah

Sunnah should be
selected based on ٍ
Shura

Shura (consultation), as was done at the Saqifah
which selected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, to be Muhammad's
political but not his religious successor. Shia, on the other hand,
believe that
Muhammad

Muhammad designated his son-in-law
Ali ibn Abi Talib
.jpg/440px-Meshed_ali_usnavy_(PD).jpg)
Ali ibn Abi Talib as
his true political as well as religious successor.[101]
The overwhelming majority of
Muslims

Muslims in the world, between 87–90%,
are Sunni.[102]
Shias and other groups make up the rest, about 10–13% of overall
Muslim

Muslim population. The countries with the highest concentration of
Shia populations are:
Iran

Iran – 96%,[103]
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan – 85%,[104] Iraq
– 60/70%,[105]
Bahrain

Bahrain – 70%,
Yemen

Yemen – 47%,[106]
Turkey

Turkey –
28%,[107][108][109]
Lebanon

Lebanon – 27%,
Syria

Syria – 17%,
Afghanistan

Afghanistan –
15%,
Pakistan

Pakistan – 5%/10%,[110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118]
and
India

India – 5%.[119]
The Kharijite Muslims, who are less known, have their own stronghold
in the country of
Oman

Oman holding about 75% of the population.[120]
Shi'a

Shi'a
Muslims

Muslims in
Iran

Iran celebrate Ashura
Friday prayer for
Sunni

Sunni
Muslims

Muslims in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Islamic schools and branches[edit]
The main Islamic madh'habs (schools of law) of Muslim-majority
countries or distributions
Main article: Islamic schools and branches
The first centuries of
Islam

Islam gave rise to three major sects: Sunnis,
Shi'as and Kharijites. Each sect developed distinct jurisprudence
schools (madhhab) reflecting different methodologies of jurisprudence
(fiqh).
The major
Sunni

Sunni madhhabs are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali.
The major
Shi'a

Shi'a branches are
Twelver

Twelver (Imami),
Ismaili

Ismaili (Sevener) and
Zaidi (Fiver).
Isma'ilism

Isma'ilism later split into Nizari
Ismaili

Ismaili and
Musta’li Ismaili, and then
Mustaali

Mustaali was divided into
Hafizi

Hafizi and
Taiyabi

Taiyabi Ismailis.[121] It also gave rise to the
Qarmatian

Qarmatian movement and
the
Druze

Druze faith.
Twelver

Twelver Shiism developed
Ja'fari jurisprudence

Ja'fari jurisprudence whose
branches are
Akhbarism

Akhbarism and Usulism, and other movements such as
Alawites, Shaykism[122] and Alevism.[123][124]
Similarly,
Kharijites

Kharijites were initially divided into five major branches:
Sufris, Azariqa, Najdat, Adjarites and Ibadis. Among these numerous
branches, only Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali,
Imamiyyah-Ja'fari-Usuli, Nizārī Ismā'īlī, Alevi,[125] Zaydi,
Ibadi, Zahiri, Alawite,[126]
Druze

Druze and
Taiyabi

Taiyabi communities have
survived. In addition, new schools of thought and movements like
Quranist Muslims, Ahmadi
Muslims

Muslims and African American
Muslims

Muslims later
emerged independently.
A
Sufi

Sufi dervish drums up the Friday afternoon crowd in Omdurman, Sudan
Druze

Druze dignitaries celebrating the
Nabi Shu'ayb

Nabi Shu'ayb festival at the tomb of
the prophet in Hittin
Ibadis

Ibadis living in the
M'zab

M'zab valley in Algerian Sahara
Zaydi Imams ruled in
Yemen

Yemen until 1962
Most of the inhabitants of the
Hunza Valley

Hunza Valley in
Pakistan

Pakistan are Ismaili
Muslims
Refugees[edit]
According to the UNHCR, Muslim-majority countries hosted 18 million
refugees by the end of 2010.[citation needed]
Since then
Muslim

Muslim nations have absorbed refugees from recent
conflicts, including the uprising in Syria.[127] In July 2013, the UN
stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 1.8
million.[128]
Education[edit]
In many Muslim-majority countries, illiteracy is a substantial
problem. Low literacy rates in the Eastern
Middle East
.svg/440px-Middle_East_(orthographic_projection).svg.png)
Middle East countries and
lack of educational initiatives are the cause of great social
turbulence.[citation needed]
Seminary exist however many Madrassahs operated by renegade
organizations have taken hold in the gap caused by the lack of basic
education not provided and funded by the governments of various
countries.[citation needed]
A 2016
Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center study about religion and education around
the world found that
Muslims

Muslims have the lowest average levels of
education after Hindus, with an average of 5.6 years of
schooling.[129] About 36% of all
Muslims

Muslims have no formal
schooling,[129]
Muslims

Muslims have also the lowest average levels of higher
education of any major religious group, with only 8% having graduate
and post-graduate degrees.[129] The highest of years of schooling
among Muslim-majority countries found in
Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan (11.5),[129]
Kuwait

Kuwait (11.0)[129] and
Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan (10.7).[129] In addition, the
average of years of schooling in countries where
Muslims

Muslims are the
majority is 6.0 years of schooling, which lag behind the global
average (7.7 years of schooling).[129] In the youngest age (25–34)
group surveyed, Young
Muslims

Muslims have the lowest average levels of
education of any major religious group, with an average of 6.7 years
of schooling, which lag behind the global average (8.6 years of
schooling).[129] The study found that
Muslims

Muslims have a significant
amount of gender inequality in educational attainment, since Muslim
women have an average of 4.9 years of schooling; compare to an average
of 6.4 years of schooling among
Muslim

Muslim men.[129]
Young school girls in
Paktia Province

Paktia Province of Afghanistan.
A primary classroom in Niger.
Schoolgirls in Gaza lining up for class, 2009.
Literacy[edit]
Literacy rate in the
Muslim

Muslim world varies.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is the 2nd place
in Index of Literacy of World Countries. Some members such as Kuwait,
Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan

Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan have over 97% literacy rates,
whereas literacy rates are the lowest in Mali, Afghanistan,
Chad

Chad and
parts of Africa. In 2015, the International Islamic News Agency
reported that nearly 37% of the population of the
Muslim

Muslim world is
unable to read or write, basing that figure on reports from the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.[130]
Scholarship[edit]
Several Muslim-majority countries like Turkey, Iran,
Egypt

Egypt and
Pakistan

Pakistan exhibit high rate of citable scientific
publications.[131][132]
Culture[edit]
Throughout history,
Muslim

Muslim cultures have been diverse ethnically,
linguistically and regionally.
Islamic architecture
The
Taj Mahal
.jpeg/500px-Taj_Mahal_(Edited).jpeg)
Taj Mahal situated in
Agra

Agra city of
India

India is one of the most
notable example of Islamic architecture.[133] (Larger)
A
Chinese pavilion

Chinese pavilion instead of a minaret at the Great
Mosque

Mosque of Xi'an,
one of China's largest mosques.
The 10th-century Grand
Mosque

Mosque of Cordoba. (Andalusia Cordoba BW
2015-10-27 13-54-14.jpg Larger[permanent dead link])
Hassan II Mosque

Hassan II Mosque in Morocco.
Dome of the Rock
-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg/440px-Israel-2013(2)-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg)
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
Arts[edit]
The term "
Islamic art

Islamic art and architecture" denotes the works of art and
architecture produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived
within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic
populations.[134][135]
Architecture[edit]
Main article: Islamic architecture
Encompasses both secular and religious styles, the design and style
made by
Muslims

Muslims and their construction of buildings and structures in
Islamic culture

Islamic culture included the architectural types: the Mosque, the
Tomb, the Palace and the Fort. Perhaps the most important expression
of
Islamic art

Islamic art is architecture, particularly that of the mosque.[136]
Through Islamic architecture, effects of varying cultures within
Islamic civilization can be illustrated. Generally, the use of Islamic
geometric patterns and foliage based arabesques were striking. There
was also the use of decorative calligraphy instead of pictures which
were haram (forbidden) in mosque architecture. Note that in secular
architecture, human and animal representation was indeed present.
The North African and Iberian Islamic architecture, for example, has
Roman-Byzantine elements, as seen in the Great
Mosque

Mosque of Kairouan
which contains marble columns from Roman and Byzantine buildings,[137]
in the
Alhambra

Alhambra palace at Granada, or in the Great
Mosque

Mosque of Cordoba.
Persian-style mosques are characterized by their tapered brick
pillars, large arcades, and arches supported each by several pillars.
In South Asia, elements of Hindu architecture were employed, but were
later superseded by Persian designs.
Aniconism[edit]
Main article:
Aniconism

Aniconism in Islam
No Islamic visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist
because it is believed that such artistic depictions may lead to
idolatry. Moreover,
Muslims

Muslims believe that God is incorporeal, making
any two- or three- dimensional depictions impossible. Instead, Muslims
describe God by the names and attributes that, according to Islam, he
revealed to his creation. All but one sura of the
Quran

Quran begins with
the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful". Images
of Mohammed are likewise prohibited. Such aniconism and
iconoclasm[138] can also be found in Jewish and some Christian
theology.
Arabesque[edit]
Main article: Arabesque (Islamic art)
Islamic art

Islamic art frequently adopts the use of geometrical floral or vegetal
designs in a repetition known as arabesque. Such designs are highly
nonrepresentational, as
Islam

Islam forbids representational depictions as
found in pre-Islamic pagan religions. Despite this, there is a
presence of depictional art in some
Muslim

Muslim societies, notably the
miniature style made famous in
Persia

Persia and under the Ottoman Empire
which featured paintings of people and animals, and also depictions of
Quranic stories and Islamic traditional narratives. Another reason why
Islamic art

Islamic art is usually abstract is to symbolize the transcendence,
indivisible and infinite nature of God, an objective achieved by
arabesque.[139]
Islamic calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy is an omnipresent decoration in
Islamic art, and is usually expressed in the form of Quranic verses.
Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh
scripts, which can be found adorning the walls and domes of mosques,
the sides of minbars, and so on.[139]
Distinguishing motifs of
Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture have always been ordered
repetition, radiating structures, and rhythmic, metric patterns. In
this respect, fractal geometry has been a key utility, especially for
mosques and palaces. Other features employed as motifs include
columns, piers and arches, organized and interwoven with alternating
sequences of niches and colonnettes.[140] The role of domes in Islamic
architecture has been considerable. Its usage spans centuries, first
appearing in 691 with the construction of the
Dome of the Rock
-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg/440px-Israel-2013(2)-Jerusalem-Temple_Mount-Dome_of_the_Rock_(SE_exposure).jpg)
Dome of the Rock mosque,
and recurring even up until the 17th century with the Taj Mahal. And
as late as the 19th century, Islamic domes had been incorporated into
European architecture.[141]
Example of an Arabesque
Example of an Arabesque
Example of an Arabesque
Girih[edit]
Main article: Girih
Girih

Girih is an Islamic decorative art form used in architecture and
handicrafts (book covers, tapestry, small metal objects), consisting
of geometric lines that form an interlaced strapwork.
Girih

Girih tiles
The subdivision rule used to generate the
Girih

Girih pattern on the
spandrel.
Girih

Girih pattern that can be drawn with compass and straight edge.
Islamic calligraphy[edit]
Main article: Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting,
calligraphy, and by extension, of bookmaking, in the lands sharing a
common Islamic cultural heritage.
Kufic
.jpg/600px-Folio_from_a_Koran_(8th-9th_century).jpg)
Kufic script from an early Qur'an manuscript, 7th century. (Surah 7:
86–87)
Bismallah

Bismallah calligraphy.
Islamic calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy represented for amulet of sailors in the Ottoman
Empire.
Islamic calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy praising Ali.
Modern
Islamic calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy representing various planets.
Calendar[edit]
Islamic lunar calendar[edit]
al-Ḥusayn ibn Zayd ibn ‘Alī ibn Jaḥḥāf's work on the Islamic
Calendar.
The Islamic calendar,
Muslim

Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar (AH) is a
lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days.
It is used to date events in many Muslim-majority countries and
determines the proper days on which to observe the annual fast (see
Ramadan), to attend Hajj, and to celebrate other Islamic holidays and
festivals.
Solar Hijri calendar[edit]
Jalali calendar also called Solar Hijri calendar.
The Solar Hijri calendar, also called the Shamsi Hijri calendar, and
abbreviated as SH, is the official calendar of
Iran

Iran and Afghanistan.
It begins on the vernal equinox. Each of the twelve months corresponds
with a zodiac sign. The first six months have 31 days, the next five
have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in usual years but 30
days in leap years. The year of Prophet Muhammad's migration to Medina
(622 CE) is fixed as the first year of the calendar, and the New
Year's Day always falls on the March equinox.
Contemporary developments[edit]
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Ceiling with Islamic patterns at the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.
The Red Crescent is recognized in 33 countries.
1001 Inventions project and its director Ahmed Salim.
By the medieval era most of the countries on the
Silk Road

Silk Road were Muslim
majority.
Muhammad

Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize, for his concepts in
Microcredit

Microcredit and Microfinance.
As of 2015
Islam

Islam has 1.8 billion adherents, making up over 24.1% of
the world population.[11] Due to globalization,
Islam

Islam today has taken
root and influenced cultures in places far from the traditional
boundaries of the
Muslim

Muslim world.[142]
Government[edit]
Democracy

Democracy and compulsion indexes[edit]
The
Open Doors

Open Doors USA organization, in its 2012 survey of countries
around the world that persecute Christians, listed 37 members of the
Muslim

Muslim world amongst the top 50 countries where Christians face the
most severe persecution. 9 of the top 10 countries are
Islamic-majority states.[143]
Religion and state[edit]
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verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements
consisting only of original research should be removed. (January 2018)
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Main articles:
List of Muslim-majority countries

List of Muslim-majority countries and List of countries
by
Muslim

Muslim population
Further information: Political aspects of
Islam

Islam and
Islam

Islam and
secularism
Muslim-majority countries classified by constitutional role for
religion.
Islamic state
State religion
Secular state
Unclear / No declaration
As the
Muslim

Muslim world came into contact with secular ideals, societies
responded in different ways. Some Muslim-majority countries are
secular.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan became the first secular republic in the Muslim
world, between 1918 and 1920, before it was incorporated into the
Soviet Union.[144][145][146][not in citation given]
Turkey

Turkey has been
governed as a secular state since the reforms of Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk.[147] By contrast, the 1979
Iranian Revolution

Iranian Revolution replaced a
mostly secular regime with an
Islamic republic

Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah,
Ruhollah Khomeini.[148]
Some countries have declared
Islam

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
.jpg/478px-End_Islamophobia,_Silent_Protest_at_Union_Station,_Washington_DC_(33348748371).jpg)
Sharia law.
Islamic states[edit]
Islamic states have adopted
Islam

Islam as the ideological foundation of
state and constitution.
Afghanistan[149]
Iran[150]
Mauritania[151]
Oman[152]
Saudi Arabia[153]
Yemen[154]
State religion[edit]
The following Muslim-majority nation-states have endorsed
Islam

Islam as
their state religion.
Algeria[155]
Bahrain[156]
Brunei[157]
Comoros[158]
Djibouti[159]
Egypt[160]
Iraq[161]
Jordan[162]
Kuwait[163]
Libya[164]
Maldives[165]
Malaysia[166]
Morocco[167]
Pakistan[168]
Qatar[169]
Sahrawi Republic[170]
Somalia[171]
Tunisia[172]
United Arab Emirates[173]
Unclear / No Declaration[edit]
These are neutral states where the constitutional or official
announcement regarding status of religion is not clear or unstated.
Bangladesh[174]
Indonesia[175]
Lebanon[176]
Syria[177]
Secular states[edit]
Secular states in
Muslim

Muslim world have declared separation between
civil/government affairs and religion.
Albania[178]
Azerbaijan[179]
Bosnia-Herzegovina[180]
Burkina Faso[181]
Chad[182]
The Gambia[183]
Guinea[184]
Guinea-Bissau[185]
Kazakhstan[186]
Kosovo[187]
Kyrgyzstan[188]
Mali[189]
Niger[190]
Nigeria[191]
Northern Cyprus
Senegal[192]
Sierra Leone[193]
Tajikistan[194]
Turkey[195]
Turkmenistan[196]
Uzbekistan[197]
Palestine[198]
Law and ethics[edit]
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section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material
may be challenged and removed. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to
remove this template message)
Further information: Islamic ethics
Use of
Sharia
.jpg/478px-End_Islamophobia,_Silent_Protest_at_Union_Station,_Washington_DC_(33348748371).jpg)
Sharia by country:
Sharia
.jpg/478px-End_Islamophobia,_Silent_Protest_at_Union_Station,_Washington_DC_(33348748371).jpg)
Sharia plays no role in the judicial system
Sharia
.jpg/478px-End_Islamophobia,_Silent_Protest_at_Union_Station,_Washington_DC_(33348748371).jpg)
Sharia applies in personal status issues only
Sharia
.jpg/478px-End_Islamophobia,_Silent_Protest_at_Union_Station,_Washington_DC_(33348748371).jpg)
Sharia applies in full, including criminal law
Regional variations in the application of sharia
In some nations,
Muslim

Muslim ethnic groups enjoy considerable autonomy.
In some places,
Muslims

Muslims implement Islamic law, called sharia in
Arabic. The Islamic law exists in a number of variations, but the main
forms are the five (four
Sunni

Sunni and one Shia) and Salafi and Ibadi
schools of jurisprudence (fiqh)[clarification needed]
Hanafi

Hanafi school in Pakistan, North India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Turkey, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, other Balkan States,
Lower Egypt, Spain, Canada, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Russia, Caucasus
Republics, China, Central Asian Republics, European Union, other
countries of North and South America.
Maliki

Maliki in North Africa, West Africa, Sahel, Qatar, United Arab
Emirates and Kuwait.
Shafi'i

Shafi'i in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Eritrea, Somalia, Yemen,
Maldives, Sri Lanka and South India
Hanbali

Hanbali in Saudi Arabia,
Jaferi in Iran, Iraq,
Bahrain

Bahrain and Azerbaijan. These four are the only
"
Muslim

Muslim states" where the majority is Shia population. In Yemen,
Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Turkey, and Syria, are countries with
Sunni

Sunni populations. In Lebanon,
the majority
Muslims

Muslims (54%) were about equally divided between Sunni
and Shia in 2010.
Ibadi

Ibadi in
Oman

Oman and small regions in North Africa
In a number of Muslim-majority countries the law requires women to
cover either their legs, shoulders and head, or the whole body apart
from the face. In strictest forms, the face as well must be covered
leaving just a mesh to see through. These hijab rules for dressing
cause tensions, concerning particularly
Muslims

Muslims living in Western
countries, where restrictions are considered both sexist and
oppressive. Some
Muslims

Muslims oppose this charge, and instead declare that
the media in these countries presses on women to reveal too much in
order to be deemed attractive, and that this is itself sexist and
oppressive.
Politics[edit]
Further information:
Islamic revival

Islamic revival and Liberal movements within
Islam
Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of
Pakistan

Pakistan became the first
woman elected to lead a Muslim-majority country.[199]
During much of the 20th century, the Islamic identity and the
dominance of
Islam

Islam on political issues have arguably increased during
the early 21st century. The fast-growing interests of the Western
world in Islamic regions, international conflicts and globalization
have changed the influence of
Islam

Islam on the world in contemporary
history.[200]
Islamism[edit]
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Some people in Muslim-majority countries also see
Islam

Islam manifested
politically as Islamism.[201] Political
Islam

Islam is powerful in some
Muslim-majority countries. Islamic parties in Turkey,
Pakistan

Pakistan and
Algeria

Algeria have taken power at the provincial level. Some in these
movements call themselves Islamists, which also sometimes describes
more militant Islamic groups. The relationships between these groups
(in democratic countries there is usually at least one Islamic party)
and their views of democracy are complex.
Some of these groups are accused of practicing Islamic terrorism.
Islam-based intergovernmental organizations[edit]
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section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material
may be challenged and removed. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to
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Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation
Economy
GDP (PPP)
GDP (PPP) per capita
Exports
Imports
Education
Member states
By population
Largest cities
Parliamentary Union
v
t
e
The
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an inter-governmental
organization grouping fifty-seven states. 49 are Muslim-majority
countries, the others have significant
Muslim

Muslim minorities. The
organization claims to be the collective voice of the
Muslim

Muslim world to
safeguard the interest and ensure the progress and well-being of their
peoples and those of other
Muslims

Muslims in the world over.[citation needed]
Gallery[edit]
Azerbaijani folk musicians in 1910s
A Kazakh wedding ceremony in a mosque
A group of marabouts – West African religious leaders and teachers
of the Quran.
Muslim

Muslim girls at Istiqlal
Mosque

Mosque in Jakarta
A tribal delegation in Chad
See also[edit]
Spread of Islam
Islam

Islam by country
Islamic studies
Islam

Islam and other religions
Pan-Islamism
Islamic Military Alliance
Notes[edit]
^ Marilyn R. Waldman, Malika Zeghal (2009). "Islamic world".
Britannica. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
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Oxford University

Oxford University Press.
doi:10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-div1-15
(inactive 2017-10-27). (Subscription required (help)). The Oxford
Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (OEIW) deals with all aspects of
Islam—the world's second largest and fastest-growing religion—and
the societies in which it exists, including their religion, politics,
economics, everyday life, culture, and thought.
^ a b Asma Afsaruddin (2016). "Islamic World". In William H. McNeill.
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Group.
doi:10.1093/acref/9780190622718.001.0001/acref-9780190622718-e-268
(inactive 2017-10-27). (Subscription required (help)). The Islamic
world is generally defined contemporaneously as consisting of
nation-states whose population contains a majority of Muslims. [...]
in the contemporary era, the term Islamic world now includes not only
the traditional heartlands of Islam, but also
Europe

Europe and North
America, both of which have sizeable minority
Muslim

Muslim populations
^ Scott Carpenter, Soner Cagaptay (2 June 2009). "What
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"
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Egypt a "Muslim" country? You can't denominate a country as
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Muslim countries', or the
'Islamic world', as if
Islam

Islam has always been there, and always will
be. And that is completely unclear. (...) If the current trend [of
apostasy] continues, at some point a large section of the population
may no longer be religious. How 'Islamic' would that still make the
'Islamic world'? access-date= requires url= (help)
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^ "Sierra Leone's Constitution of 1991, Reinstated in 1996, with
Amendments through 2008" (PDF).
^ "Tajikistan's Constitution of 1994 with Amendments through 2003"
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^ "Article 2 of Constitution". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
^ "Constitution of Turkmenistan". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
^ "Uzbekistan's Constitution of 1992 with Amendments through 2011"
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^ "The World Factbook". CIA.
^ "Benazir Bhutto: Daughter of Tragedy" by
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Muhammad Najeeb, Hasan
Zaidi, Saurabh Shulka and S. Prasannarajan,
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India Today, 7 January
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^ Milestones of Islamic History
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References[edit]
Ankerl, Guy (2000) [2000]. Global communication without universal
civilization. INU societal research. Vol.1: Coexisting contemporary
civilizations : Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western.
Geneva: INU Press. ISBN 2-88155-004-5. OCLC 223231547.
Graham, Mark, How
Islam

Islam Created the Modern World (2006)
Tausch, Arno (2009). What 1.3 Billion
Muslims

Muslims Really Think: An Answer
to a Recent Gallup Study, Based on the "World Values Survey". Foreword
Mansoor Moaddel, Eastern Michigan University (1st ed.). Nova Science
Publishers, New York. ISBN 978-1-60692-731-1.
Tausch, Arno (2015). The political algebra of global value change.
General models and implications for the
Muslim

Muslim world. With Almas
Heshmati and Hichem Karoui (1st ed.). Nova Science Publishers, New
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Russell, G. A. (1994). The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural
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Kraemer, Joel L. (1992). Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam. Brill
Publishers. ISBN 90-04-07259-4.
Grant, John; Clute, John. "Arabian fantasy". The Encyclopedia of
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External links[edit]
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The Islamic World to 1600 an online tutorial at the University of
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Is There a
Muslim

Muslim World?, on NPR
Asabiyya: Re-Interpreting Value Change in Globalized Societies
Why
Europe

Europe has to offer a better deal towards its
Muslim

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A quantitative analysis of open international data
Indian Ocean in World History, A free online educational resource
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