At the height of European colonial
expansion in the 19th century, most of the Islamic world was
under colonial rule with the exception of a few regions such
as the heart of the Ottoman empire, Persia, Afghanistan,
Yemen and certain parts of Arabia. But even these areas were
under foreign influence or, in the case of the Ottomans,
under constant threat. After the First World War with the
breakup of the Ottoman empire, a number of Arab states such
as Iraq became independent, others like Jordan were created
as a new entity and yet others like Palestine, Syria and
Lebanon were either mandated or turned into French colonies.
As for Arabia, it was at this time that Saudi Arabia became
finally consolidated. As for other parts of the Islamic
world, Egypt which had been ruled by the descendents of
Muhammad Ali since the l9th century became more independent
as a result of the fall of the Ottomans, Turkey was turned
into a secular republic by Ataturk, and the Pahlavi dynasty
began a new chapter in Persia where its name reverted to its
eastern traditional form of Iran. But most of the rest of
the Islamic world remained under colonial rule.
Arab
It was only after the Second World War
and the dismemberment of the British, French, Dutch and
Spanish empires that the rest of the Islamic world gained
its independence. In the Arab world, Syria and Lebanon
became independent at the end of the war as did Libya and
the shaykdoms around the Gulf and the Arabian Sea by the
1960's. The North African countries of Tunisia, Morocco and
Algeria had to fight a difficult and, in the case of
Algeria, long and protracted war to gain their freedom which
did not come until a decade later for Tunisia and Morocco
and two decades later for Algeria. Only Palestine did not
become independent but was partitioned in 1948 with the
establishment of the state of Israel.
India
In India Muslims participated in the
freedom movement against British rule along with Hindus and
when independence finally came in 1947, they were able to
create their own homeland, Pakistan, which came into being
for the sake of Islam and became the most populated Muslim
state although many Muslims remained in India. In 1971,
however, the two parts of the state broke up, East Pakistan
becoming Bengladesh.
Far East
Farther east still, the Indonesians
finally gained their independence from the Dutch and the
Malays theirs from Britain. At first Singapore was part of
Malaysia but it separated in 1963 to become an independent
state. Small colonies still persisted in the area and
continued to seek their independence, the kingdom of Brunei
becoming independent as recently as 1984.
Africa
In Africa also major countries with large
or majority Muslim populations such as Nigeria, Senegal and
Tanzania began to gain their independence in the 1950's and
1960's with the result that by the end of the decade of the
60's most parts of the Islamic world were formed into
independent national states. There were, however,
exceptions. The Muslim states in the Soviet Union failed to
gain their autonomy or independence. The same holds true for
Sinkiang (called Eastem Turkestan by Muslim geographers)
while in Eritrea and the southern Philippines Muslim
independence movements still continue.
National States
While the world of Islam has entered into
the modern world in the form of national states, continuous
attempts are made to create closer cooperation within the
Islamic world as a whole and to bring about greater unity.
This is seen not only in the meetings of the Muslim heads of
state and the establishment of the OIC (Organization of
Islamic Countries) with its own secretariat, but also in the
creation of institutions dealing with the whole of the
Islamic world. Among the most important of these is the
Muslim World League (Rabitat al-alam al-Islami ) with its
headquarters in Makkah. Saudi Arabia has in fact played a
pivotal role in the creation and maintenance of such
organizations.
Revival and Reassertation of Islam
Muslims did not wish to gain only their
political independence. They also wished to assert their own
religious and cultural identity. From the 18th century
onward Muslim reformers appeared upon the scene who sought
to reassert the teachings of Islam and to reform society on
the basis of Islamic teachings. One of the first among this
group was Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, who hailed from the
Arabian peninsula and died there in 1792. This reformer was
supported by Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ud, the founder of the first
Saudi state. With this support Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab
was able to spread his teachings not only in Arabia but even
beyond its borders to other Islamic lands where his reforms
continue to wield influence to this day.
In the 19th century lslamic assertion
took several different forms ranging from the Mahdi movement
of the Sudan and the Sanusiyyah in North Africa which fought
wars against European colonizers, to educational movements
such as that of Aligarh in India aiming to reeducate
Muslims. In Egypt which, because of al-Azhar University,
remains to this day central to Islamic learning, a number of
reformers appear, each addressing some aspect of Islamic
thought. Some were concerned more with law, others
economics, and yet others the challenges posed by Western
civilization with its powerful science and technology. These
included Jamal al-Din al-Afghani who hailed originally from
Persia but settled in Cairo and who was the great champion
of Pan-Islamism, that is the movement to unite the Islamic
world politically as well as religiously. His student,
Muhammad 'Abduh, who became the rector of al-Azhar. was also
very influential in Islamic theology and thought. Also of
considerable influence was his Syrian student, Rashid Rida,
who held a position closer to that of 'Abd al-Wahhab and
stood for the strict application of the Shari'ah. Among the
most famous of these thinkers is Muhammad Iqbal, the
outstanding poet and philosopher who is considered as the
father of Pakistan.
Reform Organizations
Moreover, as Western influence began to
penetrate more deeply into the fiber of Islamic society,
organizations gradually grew up whose goal was to reform
society in practice along Islamic lines and prevent its
secularization. These included the Muslim Brotherhood
(Ikhwan al-muslimin) founded in Egypt and with branches in
many Muslim countries, and the Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan
founded by the influential Mawlana Mawdudi. These
organizations have been usually peaceful and have sought to
reestablish an Islamic order through education. During the
last two decades, however, as a result of the frustration of
many Muslims in the face of pressures coming from a
secularized outside world, some have sought to reject the
negative aspects of Western thought and culture and to
return to an Islamic society based completely on the
application of the Shari 'ah. Today in every Muslim country
there are strong movements to preserve and propagate Islamic
teachings. In countries such as Saudi Arabia Islamic Law is
already being applied and in fact is the reason for the
prosperity, development and stability of the country. In
other countries where Islamic Law is not being applied,
however, most of the effort of Islamic movements is spent in
making possible the full application of the Shari'ah so that
the nation can enjoy prosperity along with the fulfillment
of the faith of its people. In any case the widespread
desire for Muslims to have the religious law of Islam
applied and to reassert their religious values and their own
identity must not be equated with exceptional violent
eruptions which do exist but which are usually treated
sensationally and taken out of proportion by the mass media
in the West.
Education and Science in the Islamic
World
In seeking to live successfully in the
modern world, in independence and according to Islamic
principles, Muslim countries have been emphasizing a great
deal the significance of the role of education and the
importance of mastering Western science and technology.
Already in the 19th century, certain Muslim countries such
as Egypt, Ottoman Turkey and Persia established institutions
of higher learning where the modem sciences and especially
medicine were taught. During this century educational
institutions at all levels have proliferated throughout the
Islamic world. Nearly every science ranging from mathematics
to biology as well as various fields of modern technology
are taught in these institutions and some notable scientists
have been produced by the Islamic world, men and women who
have often combined education in these institutions with
training in the West.
In various parts of the Islamic world
there is, however, a sense that educational institutions
must be expanded and also have their standards improved to
the level of the best institutions in the world in various
fields of leaming especially science and technology. At the
same time there is an awareness that the educational system
must be based totally on Islamic principles and the
influence of alien cultural and ethical values and norms, to
the extent that they are negative, be diminished. To remedy
this problem a number of international Islamic educational
conferences have been held, the first one in Makkah in 1977,
and the foremost thinkers of the Islamic world have been
brought together to study and ponder over the question of
the relation between Islam and modern science. This is an
ongoing process which is at the center of attention in many
parts of the Islamic world and which indicates the
significance of educational questions in the Islamic world
today.
Influence of Islamic Science and
Learning Upon the West
The oldest university in the world which
is still functioning is the eleven hundred-year-old Islamic
university of Fez, Morocco, known as the Qarawiyyin. This
old tradition of Islamic learning influenced the West
greatly through Spain. In this land where Muslims,
Christians and Jews lived for the most part peacefully for
many centuries, translations began to be made in the 11th
century mostly in Toledo of Islamic works into Latin often
through the intermediary of Jewish scholars most of whom
knew Arabic and often wrote in Arabic. As a result of these
translations, Islamic thought and through it much of Greek
thought became known to the West and Western schools of
learning began to flourish. Even the Islamic educational
system was emulated in Europe and to this day the term chair
in a university reflects the Arabic kursi (literally seat)
upon which a teacher would sit to teach his students in the
madrasah (school of higher learning). As European
civillization grew and reached the high Middle Ages, there
was hardly a field of learning or form of art, whether it
was literature or architecture, where there was not some
influence of Islam present. Islamic learning became in this
way part and parcel of Western civilization even if with the
advent of the Renaissance, the West not only turned against
its own medieval past but also sought to forget the long
relation it had had with the Islamic world, one which was
based on intellectual respect despite religious opposition.
Conclusion
The Islamic world remains today a vast
land stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with an
important presence in Europe and America, animated by the
teachings of Islam and seeking to assert its own identity.
Despite the presence of nationalism and various secular
ideologies in their midst, Muslims wish to live in the
modern world but without simply imitating blindly the ways
followed by the West. The Islamic world wishes to live at
peace with the West as well as the East but at the same time
not to be dominated by them. It wishes to devote its
resources and energies to building a better life for its
people on the basis of the teachings of Islam and not to
squander its resources in either internal or external
conflicts. It seeks finally to create better understanding
with the West and to be better understood by the West. The
destinies of the Islamic world and the West cannot be
totally separated and therefore it is only in understanding
each other better that they can serve their own people more
successfully and also contribute to a better life for the
whole of humanity.
