The Omega Point is a theorized future event in which the entirety of the universe spirals toward a final point of unification. The term was invented by the French Jesuit Catholic priestPierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955). Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is "God from God", "Light from Light", "True God from True God", and "through him all things were made". In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself thrice as "the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end". Several decades after Teilhard's death, the
idea of the Omega Point was expanded upon in the writings of John David
Garcia (1971), Paolo Soleri (1981), Frank Tipler (1994), and David Deutsch (1997).
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's theory
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1947
Etymology
Teilhard de Chardin was a paleontologist
and Roman Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. In France in the 1920s,
he began incorporating his theories of the universe into lectures that
placed Catholicism and evolution in the same conversation. Because of these lectures, he was suspected by the Holy Office of denying the doctrine of original sin. This caused Teilhard to be exiled to China and banned from publication by Church authorities.
It was not until one year after his death in 1955 that his writings
were published for the world to read. His works were also supported by
the writings of a group of Catholic thinkers, which includes Pope Benedict XVI. His book The Phenomenon of Man has been dissected by astrophysicists and cosmologists, and is now viewed as a work positing a theological or philosophical theory that cannot be scientifically proven. Teilhard, who was not a cosmologist, opens his books with the statement:
... if this book is to be properly
understood, it must be read not as a work on metaphysics, still less as a
sort of theological essay, but purely and simply as a scientific
treatise.
Evolution
According to Teilhard, evolution does not end with mankind, and Earth's biosphere
evolved before humans existed. He described evolution as a progression
that begins with inanimate matter to a future state of Divine
consciousness through Earth's "hominization". He also maintained that one-cell organisms develop into metazoans or animals, but some of the members of this classification develop organisms with complex nervous systems. This group has the capability to acquire intelligence. When Homo sapiens inhabited Earth through evolution, a noosphere,
the cognitive layer of existence, was created. As evolution continues,
the noosphere gains coherence. Teilhard explained that this noosphere
can be moved toward or constructed to be the Omega Point or the final
evolutionary stage with the help of science.
Teilhard refers to this process as "planetization." Eventually, the
noosphere gains total dominance over the biosphere and reaches a point
of complete independence from tangential energy forming a metaphysical
being, called the Omega Point.
"Radial Energy": spiritual energy which accumulates into a higher state as time progresses.
Teilhard defines Radial Energy as becoming more concentrated and
available as it is a critical element in man's evolution. The theory
applies to all forms of matter, concluding that everything with
existence has some sort of life. In regard to Teilhard's The Phenomenon of Man, Peter Medawar
wrote, "Teilhard's radial, spiritual, or psychic energy may be equated
to 'information' or 'information content' in the sense that has been
made reasonably precise by communication engineers."
Formal properties
Teilhard's theory is based on four "properties":
Humans will escape the heat death of the universe. Current scientific understanding is that that intelligence cannot survive heat death. He theorizes that since radial energy is non-compliant with entropy, it escapes the collapses of forces at world's end.
The Omega Point does not exist within the timeline of the universe,
it occurs at the exact edge of the end of time. From that point, all
sequences of existence are sucked into its being.
The Omega Point can be understood as a volume shaped like a cone in
which each section, taken from the base to its summit, decreases until
it diminishes into a final point.
The volume described in the Third Property must be understood as an entity with finite boundaries. Teilhard explains:
... what would have become of
humanity, if, by some remote chance, it had been free to spread
indefinitely on an unlimited surface, that is to say, left only to the
devices of its internal affinities? Something unimaginable. ... Perhaps
even nothing at all, when we think of the extreme importance of the role
played in its development by the forces of compression.
Forces of compression
Teilhard
calls the contributing universal energy that generates the Omega Point
"forces of compression". Unlike the scientific definition, which
incorporates gravity and mass,
Teilhard's forces of compression are sourced from communication and
contact between human beings. This value is limitless and directly
correlated with entropy. It suggests that as humans continue to
interact, consciousness
evolves and grows. For the theory to occur, humans must also be bound
to the finite earth. The creation of this boundary forces the world's
convergence upon itself which he theorizes to result in time ending in
communion with the Omega Point-God. This portion of Teilhard's thinking
shows his lack of expectation for humans to engage in space travel and
transcend the bounds of Earth.
Mathematical physicist Frank Tipler generalized Teilhard's term Omega Point to describe what he alleges is the ultimate fate of the universe as required by the laws of physics:
roughly, Tipler argues that quantum mechanics is inconsistent unless
the future of every point in spacetime contains an intelligent observer
to collapse the wavefunction and that the only way for this to happen is
if the Universe is closed (that is, it will collapse to a single point)
and yet contains observers with a "God-like" ability to perform an
unbounded series of observations in finite time. Tipler's conception of the Omega Point is widely regarded as pseudoscience by mainstream science.
The originator of quantum computing, Oxford's David Deutsch, wrote about how a universal quantum computer could bring about Tipler's salvation in his 1997 book, The Fabric of Reality.
Theological controversy
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's life (1881–1955) was bracketed by the First Vatican Council (1869) and the Second Vatican Council (1965). He was born 20 years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species;
soon after, the claims of scientific theories and those of traditional
theological teachings became of great interest to the Vatican.
If such a doctrine were to be
spread, what will become of the unchangeable Catholic dogmas, what of
the unity and the stability of the Creed?
Teilhard's theory was a personal attempt in creating a new Christianity in which science and theology coexist.
The outcome was that his theory of the Omega Point was not perfectly
scientific as examined by physicists, and not perfectly Christian
either. By 1962, The Society of Jesus had strayed from Spanish Jesuit Priest Francisco Suarez's philosophies on Man in favor of "Teilhardian evolutionary cosmogenesis." Teilhard's Christ is the "Cosmic Christ"
or the "Omega" of revelation. He is an emanation of God which is made
of matter and experienced the nature of evolution by being born into
this world and dying. His resurrection from the dead was not to heaven,
but to the noosphere, the area of convergence of all spirituality and
spiritual beings, where Christ will be waiting at the end of time. When
the earth reaches its Omega Point, everything that exists will become
one with divinity.
Teilhard reaffirmed the role of the Church in the following
letter to Auguste Valensin. It is important to note that he defines
evolution as a scientific phenomenon set in motion by God – that science
and the divine are interconnected and acting through one another:
I believe in the Church, mediatrix
between God and the world[.] ... The Church, the reflectively
christified portion of the world, the Church, the principal focus of
inter-human affinities through super-charity, the Church, the central
axis of universal convergence and the precise point of contact between
the universe and Omega Point. ... The Catholic Church, however, must not
simply seek to affirm its primacy and authority but quite simply to
present the world with the Universal Christ, Christ in human-cosmic
dimension, as the animator of evolution.
In 1998, a value measured from observations of Type Ia supernovae seemed to indicate that what was once assumed to be temporary cosmological expansion was actually accelerating.
The apparent acceleration has caused further dismissal of the validity
of Tipler's Omega Point, since the necessity of a final big crunch
singularity is key to the Omega Point's workability. However, Tipler
believes that the Omega Point is still workable, explaining why a big
crunch/ final singularity is still required under many current universal
models.
Technological singularity
The technological singularity is the hypothetical advent of artificial general intelligence becoming capable of recursive self-improvement, resulting in an irreversible machine intelligence explosion, with unknown impact on humanity. Eric Steinhart, a proponent of "Christian transhumanism," argues there is a significant overlap of ideas between the secular singularity and Teilhard's religious Omega Point. Steinhart quotes Ray Kurzweil, who stated that "evolution moves inexorably toward our conception of God, albeit never reaching this ideal." Like Kurzweil, Teilhard
predicted a period of rapid technological change that results in a
merger of humanity and technology. He believes that this marks the birth
of the noosphere and the emergence of the "spirit of the Earth," but the Teilhardian Singularity comes later. Unlike Kurzweil, Teilhard's
singularity is marked by the evolution of human intelligence reaching a
critical point in which humans ascend from "transhuman" to "posthuman."
He identifies this with the Christian "parousia."
The Spanish painter Salvador Dalí was familiar with Teilhard de Chardin's Omega Point theory. His 1959 painting The Ecumenical Council is said to represent the "interconnectedness" of the Omega Point. Point Omega by Don DeLillo takes its name from the theory and involves a character who is studying Teilhard de Chardin. Flannery O'Connor's acclaimed collection of short stories taps the Omega Point theory in its title, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and science fiction writer Frederik Pohl references Frank Tipler and the Omega Point in his 1998 short story "The Siege of Eternity". Scottish writer / counterculture figure Grant Morrison has used the Omega Point as a plot line in several of his Justice League of America and Batman stories.
Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter's The Light of Other Days references Teilhard de Chardin and includes a brief explanation of the Omega Point. Italian writer Valerio Evangelisti has used the Omega Point as main theme of his Il Fantasma di Eymerich novel. In William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist, the character of Father Merrin references Omega Point. In 2021, Dutch symphonic metal band Epica released their eighth studio album, Omega, which features concepts related to the Omega Point theory. Epica's guitarist and vocalist, Mark Jansen, specifically referenced Teilhard's theory when describing the album's concept.
This article is about the existentialist phrase coined by Jean-Paul Sartre. For the transcendent theosophy founder, see Mulla Sadra.
The proposition that existence precedes essence (French: l'existence précède l'essence) is a central claim of existentialism, which reverses the traditional philosophical view that the essence (the nature) of a thing is more fundamental and immutable than its existence (the mere fact of its being). To existentialists, human beings—through their consciousness—create their own values and determine a meaning for their life because the human being does not possess any inherent identity or value.
That identity or value must be created by the individual. By posing the
acts that constitute them, they make their existence more significant.
The idea originates from a speech by F. W. J. Schelling delivered in December 1841. Søren Kierkegaard was present at this occasion and the idea can be found in Kierkegaard's works in the 19th century, but was explicitly formulated by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in the 20th century. The three-word formula originated in his 1945 lecture "Existentialism Is a Humanism", though antecedent notions can be found in Heidegger'sBeing and Time.
As a result, for Sartre, "existence precedes essence" not only
defines and determines his own existential thinking or interpretation of
existentialism, but also any thinking or philosophising that declares
itself to be existential. Despite Sartre's later efforts to distance
himself and his thinking from this remark and its consequences, it has
become the most quoted, repeated, and cited description of
existentialism and any non-theistic existential thought.
Purpose and freedom
The Sartrean claim is best understood in contrast to the scholastic thesis that essence precedes existence;
a typical claim for this traditional thesis would be that a human is
essentially selfish, or that they are essentially a rational being.
To Sartre, "existence precedes essence" means that a personality is not built from a previously designed model or for a precise purpose, because it is the human being who chooses to engage in such enterprise. While not denying the constraining conditions of human existence, he answers to Spinoza who affirmed that people are determined by what surrounds them. Therefore, to Sartre an oppressive situation is not intolerable in itself, but once regarded as such by those who feel oppressed the situation becomes
intolerable. So by projecting my intentions onto my present condition,
"It is I who freely transform it into action". When he said that "the
world is a mirror of my freedom",
he meant that the world obliges me to react, to overtake myself. It is
this overtaking of a present constraining situation by a project to come
that Sartre names transcendence. He added that "we are condemned to be free".
To claim that existence precedes essence is to assert that there
is no such predetermined essence to be found in humans, and that an
individual's essence is defined by the individual through how that
individual creates and lives his or her life. As Sartre puts it in his Existentialism is a Humanism: "man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards".
Choice and sedimentation
Jonathan Webber interprets Sartre's usage of the term essence
not in a modal fashion, i.e. as necessary features, but in a
teleological fashion: "An essence is the relational property of having a
set of parts ordered in such a way as to collectively perform some
activity".
For example, it belongs to the essence of a house to keep the bad
weather out, which is why it has walls and a roof. Humans are different
from houses because unlike houses they don't have an inbuilt purpose:
they are free to choose their own purpose and thereby shape their essence, therefore their existence precedes their essence.
Sartre is committed to a radical conception of freedom: nothing
fixes our purpose but we ourselves, our projects have no weight or
inertia except for our endorsement of them. Simone de Beauvoir, on the other hand, holds that there are various factors, grouped together under the term sedimentation, that offer resistance to attempts to change our direction in life. Sedimentations
are themselves products of past choices and can be changed by choosing
differently in the present, but such changes happen slowly. They are a
force of inertia that shapes the agent's evaluative outlook on the world
until the transition is complete.
Responsibility
When
it is said that people define themselves, it is often perceived as
stating that they can "wish" to be something – anything, a bird, for
instance – and then be it. According to Sartre's account, however, this
would be a kind of bad faith. What is meant by the statement is that people are (1) defined only insofar as they act and (2) that they are responsible
for their actions. To clarify, it can be said that a person who acts
cruelly towards other people is, by that act, defined as a cruel person
and in that same instance, they (as opposed to their genes, for
instance) are defined as being responsible for being this cruel person.
Of course, the more positive therapeutic aspect of this is also implied:
You can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person
instead of a cruel person. Here it is also clear that since people can
choose to be either cruel or good, they are, in fact, neither of these
things essentially.
The Absurd
Existentialism
tends to focus on the question of human existence and the conditions of
this existence. What is meant by existence is the concrete life of each
individual, and their concrete ways of being in the world. Even though
this concrete individual existence must be the primary source of
information in the study of people, certain conditions are commonly held
to be "endemic" to human existence. These conditions are usually in
some way related to the inherent meaninglessness or absurdity of
the universe and its apparent contrast with our pre-reflexive lived
lives which normally present themselves to us as meaningful. A central
theme is that since the world "in-itself" is absurd, that is, not
"fair", then a meaningful life can at any point suddenly lose all its
meaning. The reasons why this happens are many, ranging from a tragedy
that "tears a person's world apart", to the results of an honest inquiry
into one's own existence. Such an encounter can make a person mentally
unstable, and avoiding such instability by making people aware of their
condition and ready to handle it is one of the central themes of
existentialism. Albert Camus, for instance, famously claimed in Le Mythe de Sisyphe that "There is only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide".
Aside from these "psychological" issues, it is also claimed that
these encounters with the absurd are where we are most in touch with our
condition as humans. Such an encounter cannot be without philosophical
significance, and existentialist philosophers derive many metaphysical
theories from these encounters. These are often related to the self, consciousness and freedom as well as the nature of meaning.
In popular culture
Bilal Tanweer used existence precedes essence in his novel The Scatter Here Is Too Great (2013),
his are engaged in a quest to discover and shape their essence. They
exercise their capacity for free choice and bear responsibility for
their actions.
Criticism
Sartre's definition of existentialism was based on Heidegger's magnum opus Being and Time (1927). In the correspondence with Jean Beaufret later published as the Letter on Humanism,
Heidegger implied that Sartre misunderstood him for his own purposes of
subjectivism, and that he did not mean that actions take precedence
over being so long as those actions were not reflected upon.
Heidegger commented that "the reversal of a metaphysical statement
remains a metaphysical statement", meaning that he thought Sartre had
simply switched the roles traditionally attributed to essence and
existence without interrogating these concepts and their history.
Deprescribing is a process to taper or stop medications with the intention to achieve improved health outcomes by reducing exposure to medications that are potentially either harmful or no longer required. Deprescribing is important to consider with changing health and care goals over time, as well as polypharmacy and adverse effects.
Deprescribing can improve adherence, cost, and health outcomes but may
have adverse drug withdrawal effects. More specifically, deprescribing
is the planned and supervised process of intentionally stopping a medication or reducing its dose to improve the person's health or reduce the risk of adverse side effects.
Deprescribing is usually done because the drug may be causing harm,
may no longer be helping the patient, or may be inappropriate for the
individual patient's current situation. Deprescribing can help correct polypharmacy and prescription cascade.
Deprescribing is often done with people who have multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity), for older people, and for people who have a limited life expectancy.
In all of these situations, certain medications may contribute to an
increased risk of adverse events, and people may benefit from a
reduction in the amount of medication
taken. The goal of deprescribing is to reduce medication burden and
harm, while maintaining or improving quality of life. "Simply because a
patient has tolerated a therapy for a long duration does not mean that
it remains an appropriate treatment. Thoughtful review of a patient's
medication regimen in the context of any changes in medical status and
potential future benefits should occur regularly, and those agents that
may no longer be necessary should be considered for a trial of
medication discontinuation."
The process of deprescribing is usually planned and supervised by health care professionals. To some, the definition of deprescribing includes only completely stopping a medication
while to others, deprescribing also includes dose reduction as this can
improve quality of life (minimizing side effects) while maintaining
benefit.
History
The world’s first published use of the term “deprescribing” was in the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia's flagship Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research
(JPPR) in 2003, in an article titled ‘Deprescribing: Achieving Better
Health Outcomes for Older People through Reducing Medications’.
Demographics
Older people are the heaviest users of medications, and frequently take five or more medications (polypharmacy). Polypharmacy is associated with increased risks of adverse events, drug interactions, falls, hospitalization, cognitive deficits, and mortality. These effects are particularly seen with high risk prescribing.
Thus, optimizing medication through targeted deprescribing is a vital
part of managing chronic conditions, avoiding adverse effects and
improving outcomes.
Evidence base
Deprescribing is a feasible and safe intervention.
For a wide range of medications, including diuretics, blood pressure
medication, sedatives, antidepressants, benzodiazepines and nitrates,
adverse effects of deprescribing are rare.
While deprescribing has been shown to result in fewer medications, it
is less certain if deprescribing is associated with significant changes
in health outcomes.
Although it might be possible and safe to reduce the number of
medicines that people use, it may not be possible to reverse the
potential harms associated with polypharmacy. Early evidence suggested
that deprescribing may reduce premature death, leading to calls to
undertake a double blind study. A placebo-controlled double-blind
randomised controlled trial was published in 2023. This study undertook
deprescribing in people aged over 65 years living in residential aged
care. It found no change in mortality.
By deprescribing medications, prescribers are often able to
improve patient function, generate a higher quality of life, and reduce
bothersome signs and symptoms. Deprescribing has been shown to reduce
the number of falls that people experience, but not to change the risk
of having the first fall.
Most health outcomes remain unchanged as an effect of deprescribing.
The absence in a change has been viewed as a positive outcome as the
medications can often be safely withdrawn without altering health
outcomes. This absence of an effect means that older people may not miss
out on potentially beneficial effects of using medications as a result
of deprescribing.
Targeted deprescribing can improve adherence to other drugs.
Deprescribing can reduce the complexity of medication schedules.
Complicated schedules are difficult for people to follow correctly.
The product information provided by drug companies provides much
information on how to start medications and what to expect when using
it, though provides very little information on when and how to stop
medications. Research in to deprescribing is accumulating, with two papers showing a rapid acceleration in the use of the word since 2015.
In people with multiple long-term conditions and polypharmacy
deprescribing represents a complex challenge as clinical guidelines are
usually developed for single conditions. In these cases tools and
guidelines like the Beers Criteria
and STOPP/START could be used safely by clinicians but not all patients
might benefit from stopping their medication. There is a need for
clarity about how much clinicians can do beyond the guidelines and the
responsibility they need to take could help them prescribing and
deprescribing for complex cases. Further factors that can help
clinicians tailor their decisions to the individual are: access to
detailed data on the people in their care (including their backgrounds
and personal medical goals), discussing plans to stop a medicine already
when it is first prescribed, and a good relationship that involves
mutual trust and regular discussions on progress. Furthermore, longer
appointments for prescribing and deprescribing would allow time explain
the process of deprescribing, explore related concerns, and support
making the right decisions.
Risks
It is possible for the patient to develop adverse drug withdrawal events (ADWE).
These symptoms may be related to the original reason why the medication
was prescribed, to withdrawal symptoms or to underlying diseases that
have been masked by medications.
For some medications, ADWEs can generally be minimized or avoided by
tapering the dose slowly and carefully monitoring for symptoms.
Prescribers should be aware of which medications usually require
tapering (such as corticosteroids and benzodiazepines), and which can be safely stopped suddenly (such as antibiotics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
Monitoring
Deprescribing
requires detailed follow-up and monitoring, not unlike the attention
required when starting a new medication. It is recommended that
prescribers frequently monitor "relevant signs, symptom, laboratory or
diagnostic tests that were the original indications for starting the
medication" as well as for potential withdrawal effects. The recommended schedule for monitoring during deprescribing is at two-weekly intervals.
Resources to support deprescribing
Implicit tools
Several
tools have been published to make prescribers aware of inappropriate
medications for patient groups. The most common deprescribing algorithm
is validated and has been tested in two RCTs. It is available for clinicians to use to identify medications that can be deprescribed.
It prompts clinicians to consider if it is (1) an inappropriate
prescription, (2) adverse effects or interactions that outweigh
symptomatic effect or potential future benefits, (3) drugs taken for
symptom relief but the symptoms are stable, and (4) drug intended to
prevent serious future events but the potential benefit is unlikely to
be realised due to limited life expectancy. If the answer to any of the
four prompts is yes, then the medication should be considered for
deprescribing.
The CEASE algorithm to prompt clinicians to consider if the treated condition remains a current concern for their patient.
The ERASE algorithm prompts clinicians to consider if the treated condition is still requires treatment. ERASE mnemonic stands for "evaluate diagnostic parameters", "resolved conditions", "ageing normally", "select targets" and "eliminate"
RxFiles, an academic detailing group based in Saskatchewan, Canada, has developed a tool to help long-term care providers identify potentially inappropriate medications in their residents. Tasmanian Medicare Local have created resources to help clinicians deprescribe.
Practice changes to encourage deprescribing
An
expert working group concluded that integrated healthcare provided by
multidisciplinary patient-centred teams were the most appropriate
approach to promote deprescribing and improve the appropriate medication
use.
The concept of having de-prescribing rounds in tertiary care hospitals
has also been evaluated and shown to potentially improve health related
outcomes.
Barriers and enablers to deprescribing
Barriers
Although many trials have successfully resulted in a reduction in medication use, there are some barriers to deprescribing:
the prescriber's beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviour
the prescriber's work environment, including work setting, health system and cultural factors
patients' fears about cessation or dislike of medications.
Enablers
the prescriber's beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviour
the prescriber's work environment, including work setting, health system and cultural factors
the patient's agreement that deprescribing was appropriate,
a structured process for cessation,
the patients' need for influences or reasons to cease medication,
The prescriber and patients were shown to have the greatest influence
on each other rather than external influences. 9 out of 10 older
people said they would be willing to stop one or more medicine if their
doctor said it was okay.
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 prophetMuhammad, but disagreements on other matters have led to the appearance of different religious schools of thought and sects within Islam. The Islamic conquests, which culminated in the Arab empire being established across three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe),
enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for the
emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic
teachings. 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 as well as religious trends.
As of 2013, the combined GDP (nominal) of 49 Muslim majority countries was US$5.7 trillion. As of 2016, they contributed 8% of the world's total. In 2020, the Economy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
which consists of 57 member states had a combined GDP(PPP) of US$24
trillion which is equal to about 18% of world's GDP or US$ 30 trillion
with 5 OIC observer states which is equal to about 22% of the world's
GDP. As of 2020, 1.9 billion or about 25% 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, 1.4% in Oceania, 6% in Europe, and 1% in the Americas.
Most Muslims are of one of two denominations: Sunni Islam (87-90%)[25] and Shia (10-13%).[26] However, other denominations exist in pockets, such as Ibadi (primarily in Oman). Muslims who do not belong to, do not self-identify with, or cannot be readily classified under one of the identifiable Islamic schools and branches are known as non-denominational Muslims. About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country; 31% of Muslims live in South Asia, the largest population of Muslims in the world; 20% in the Middle East–North Africa, where it is the dominant religion; and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa (primarily in 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 the world’s second, fourth, sixth and seventh largest Muslim populations respectively. Sizeable Muslim communities are also found in the Americas, Russia, India, China, and Europe. Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world partially due to their high birth rate.
China has the third largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority
countries, while Russia has the fifth 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".
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.
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Al-Idrisi of Sicily in 1154, one of the most advanced ancient world maps.
Al-Idrisi also wrote about the diverse Muslim communities found in
various lands. Note: the map is here shown upside-down from the original
to match current North/Up, South/Down map design
The history of the Islamic faith as a religion and social institution begins with its inception around 610 CE, when the Islamic prophetMuhammad, 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.
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.
"Why do the Christian nations, which were so weak in the past
compared with 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."
Map of colonial powers throughout the world in the year 1914 (note colonial powers in the pre-modern Muslim world).
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.
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".
In the 21st century, after the September 11 attacks (2001) coordinated by the WahhabiIslamistterrorist groupAl-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 [to] distinguish 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."
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.
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, which was endorsed in 2005 by prominent Islamic scholars around the world, recognized four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali), two Shia schools (Ja'fari, Zaidi), the Ibadi school, and the Zahiri school.
Government and religion
Islamic states
Islamic states have adopted Islam as the ideological foundation of state and constitution.
The following Muslim-majoritystates 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:
According to the Pew Research Center in 2015 there were 50 Muslim-majority countries, which are shown in the Government and religion section above in the article.
Apart from these, large Muslim populations exist in some countries
where Muslims are a minority, and their Muslim communities are larger
than many Muslim-majority nations:
During much of the 20th century, the Islamic identity and the
dominance of 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 on the world in contemporary history.
Islamism
Islamism (also often called political Islam) is a religio-political ideology. The advocates of Islamism, also known as "al-Islamiyyun", are dedicated to realizing their ideological interpretation of Islam
within the context of the state or society. The majority of them are
affiliated with Islamic institutions or social mobilization movements,
often designated as "al-harakat al-Islamiyyah."
In its original formulation, Islamism described an ideology seeking to revive Islam to its past assertiveness and glory, purifying it of foreign elements, reasserting its role into "social and political as well as personal life"; and in particular
"reordering government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam" (aka Sharia). According to at least one observer (author Robin Wright), Islamist movements have "arguably altered the Middle East more than any trend since the modern states gained independence", redefining "politics and even borders".
Al-Banna and Maududi called for a "reformist" strategy to re-Islamizing society through grassroots social and political activism. Other Islamists (Al-Turabi) are proponents of a "revolutionary" strategy of Islamizing society through exercise of state power, or (Sayyid Qutb)
for combining grassroots Islamization with armed revolution. The term
has been applied to non-state reform movements, political parties,
militias and revolutionary groups. Islamists emphasize the implementation of sharia, pan-Islamic political unity, the creation of Islamic states, (eventually unified), and rejection of non-Muslim influences—particularly Western or universaleconomic, military, political, social, or cultural.
At least one author (Graham E. Fuller) has argued for a broader notion of Islamism as a form of identity politics,
involving "support for [Muslim] identity, authenticity, broader
regionalism, revivalism, [and] revitalization of the community."
Islamists themselves prefer terms such as "Islamic movement",
or "Islamic activism" to "Islamism", objecting to the insinuation that
Islamism is anything other than Islam renewed and revived. In public and academic contexts,
the term "Islamism" has been criticized as having been given
connotations of violence, extremism, and violations of human rights, by
the Western mass media, leading to Islamophobia and stereotyping.
More than 24.1% of the world's population is Muslim. Current estimates conclude that the number of Muslims in the world is around 1.8 billion. Muslims are the majority in 49 countries, they speak hundreds of languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The city of Karachi has the largest Muslim population in the world.
Geography
Indonesia is currently the most populous Muslim-majority country.
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%.
In 2010, 73% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries
where Muslims are in the majority, while 27% of the world's Muslim
population lived in countries where Muslims are in the minority. India's Muslim population is the world's largest Muslim-minority population in the world (11% of the world's Muslim population). 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.
Religion
Islam
The
two main denominations of Islam are the 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 Muhammad according to the Sunnah should be selected based on ٍ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
designated his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his true political as well as religious successor.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world, between 87 and 90%, are Sunni.
Shias and other groups make up the rest, about 10–13% of overall
Muslim population. The countries with the highest concentration of Shia
populations are: Iran – 89%, Azerbaijan – 65%, Iraq – 60%, Bahrain – 60%, Yemen – 35%, Turkey – 10%, Lebanon – 27%, Syria – 13%, Afghanistan – 10%, Pakistan – 10%, and India – 10%.
The Muslim world is home to some of the world's most ancient Christian communities, and some of the most important cities of the Christian world—including three of its five great patriarchates (Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople). Scholars and intellectuals agree Christians have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since the introduction of Islam, and they have had a significant impact contributing the culture of the Middle East and North Africa and other areas. Pew Research Center estimates indicate that in 2010, more than 64 million Christians
lived in countries with Muslim majorities (excluding Nigeria). The Pew
Forum study finds that Indonesia (21.1 million) has the largest
Christian population in the Muslim world, followed by Egypt, Chad and
Kazakhstan.
While according to Adly A. Youssef and Martyn Thomas, in 2004, there
were around 30 million Christians who lived in countries with Muslim
majorities, with the largest Christian population number lived in
Indonesia, followed by Egypt. Nigeria is divided almost evenly between Muslims and Christians, with more than 80 million Christians and Muslims.
In 2018, the Jewish Agency estimated that around 27,000 Jews live in Arab and Muslim countries. Jewish communities have existed across the Middle East and North Africa since the rise of Islam. Today, Jews residing in Muslim countries have been reduced to a small fraction of their former sizes, with the largest communities of Jews in Muslim countries exist in the non-Arab countries of Iran (9,500) and Turkey (14,500); both, however, are much smaller than they historically have been. Among Arab countries, the largest Jewish community now exists in Morocco with about 2,000 Jews and in Tunisia with about 1,000. The number of Druze worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant (primarily in Syria and Lebanon).
In 2010, the Pew Forum study finds that Bangladesh (13.5
million), Indonesia (4 million), Pakistan (3.3 million) and Malaysia
(1.7 million) has a sizeable Hindu minorities. Malaysia (5 million) has the largest Buddhist population in the Muslim world. Zoroastrians are the oldest remaining religious community in Iran.
Literacy and education
The literacy rate in the Muslim world varies. Azerbaijan
is in second place in the Index of Literacy of World Countries. Some
members such as Iran, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan
have over 97% literacy rates, whereas literacy rates are the lowest in Mali, Afghanistan, Chad and other parts of Africa. Several Muslim-majority countries, such as Turkey, Iran and Egypt have a high rate of citable scientific publications.
In 2015, the International Islamic News Agency reported that
nearly 37% of the population of the Muslim world is unable to read or
write, basing that figure on reports from the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. In Egypt, the largest Muslim-majority Arab country, the youth female literacy rate exceeds that for males.
Lower literacy rates are more prevalent in South Asian countries such
as in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but are rapidly increasing. In the Eastern Middle East, Iran has a high level of youth literacy at 98%, but Iraq's youth literacy rate has sharply declined from 85% to 57% during the American-led war and subsequent occupation. Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, has a 99% youth literacy rate.
A 2011 Pew Research Center showed that at the time about 36% of all Muslims had no formal schooling, with only 8% having graduate and post-graduate degrees.
The highest of years of schooling among Muslim-majority countries found in Uzbekistan (11.5), Kuwait (11.0) and Kazakhstan (10.7).
In addition, the average of years of schooling in countries in which
Muslims are the majority is 6.0 years of schooling, which lag behind the
global average (7.7 years of schooling).
In the youngest age (25–34) group surveyed, Young 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). The study found that Muslims have a significant amount of gender inequality
in educational attainment, since Muslim women have an average of 4.9
years of schooling, compared to an average of 6.4 years of schooling
among Muslim men.
According to the UNHCR, Muslim-majority countries hosted 18 million refugees by the end of 2010.
Since then Muslim-majority countries have absorbed refugees from recent conflicts, including the uprising in Syria. In July 2013, the UN stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 1.8 million.
In Asia, an estimated 625,000 refugees from Rakhine, Myanmar, mostly Muslim, had crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 2017.
Culture
Throughout history, Muslim cultures have been diverse ethnically, linguistically and regionally. According to M. M. Knight,
this diversity includes diversity in beliefs, interpretations and
practices and communities and interests. Knight says perception of
Muslim world among non-Muslims is usually supported through introductory
literature about Islam, mostly present a version as per scriptural view
which would include some prescriptive literature
and abstracts of history as per authors own point of views, to which
even many Muslims might agree, but that necessarily would not reflect
Islam as lived on the ground, 'in the experience of real human bodies'.
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. 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, Vedic, etc.
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).
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. 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. Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.
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. 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.
One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture."
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. 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.
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.
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 decagonalquasicrystal
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 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 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. 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. 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-industrialisedMughal Bengal and Tipu Sultan's Kingdom, through the conquests of the East India Company.
Arts
The term "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.
Architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam
to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic
area historically ranging from western Africa and Europe to eastern
Asia. Certain commonalities are shared by Islamic architectural styles
across all these regions, but over time different regions developed
their own styles according to local materials and techniques, local
dynasties and patrons, different regional centers of artistic
production, and sometimes different religious affiliations.
No Islamic visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist because it is believed that such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry. Muslims describe God by the names and attributes that, according to Islam, he revealed to his creation. All but one sura of the Quran begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful". Images of Mohammed are likewise prohibited. Such aniconism and iconoclasm can also be found in Jewish and some Christian theology.
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 forbids representational depictions as found in pre-Islamic pagan religions. Despite this, there is a presence of depictional art in some Muslim societies, notably the miniature style made famous in 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 is usually abstract is to symbolize the transcendence,
indivisible and infinite nature of God, an objective achieved by
arabesque. 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.
Distinguishing motifs
of 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.
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 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.
Girih decoration is believed to have been inspired by Syrian Roman knotwork patterns from the second century. The earliest girih dates from around 1000 CE, and the artform flourished until the 15th century. Girih patterns can be created in a variety of ways, including the traditional straightedge and compass construction; the construction of a grid of polygons; and the use of a set of girih tiles
with lines drawn on them: the lines form the pattern. Patterns may be
elaborated by the use of two levels of design, as at the 1453 Darb-e Imam shrine. Square repeating units of known patterns can be copied as templates, and historic pattern books may have been intended for use in this way.
The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Qur'an;
chapters and excerpts from the Qur'an are a common and almost universal
text upon which Islamic calligraphy is based. Although artistic
depictions of people and animals are not explicitly forbidden by the
Qur'an, pictures have traditionally been limited in Islamic books in
order to avoid idolatry. Although some scholars dispute this, Kufic script was supposedly developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa,
Iraq, from which it takes its name. The style later developed into
several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced,
bordered, and square kufic. In the ancient world, though, artists would
often get around the aniconic
prohibition by using strands of tiny writing to construct lines and
images. Calligraphy was a valued art form, even as a moral good. An
ancient Arabic proverb illustrates this point by emphatically stating
that "Purity of writing is purity of the soul."
However, Islamic calligraphy is not limited to strictly religious subjects, objects, or spaces. Like all Islamic art, it encompasses a diverse array of works created in a wide variety of contexts.
The prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art is not directly related to
its non-figural tradition; rather, it reflects the centrality of the
notion of writing and written text in Islam.
Islamic calligraphy developed from two major styles: Kufic and Naskh.
There are several variations of each, as well as regionally specific
styles. Arabic or Persian calligraphy has also been incorporated into modern art, beginning with the post-colonial period in the Middle East, as well as the more recent style of calligraffiti.
Calendar
Two calendars are used all over the Muslim world. One is a lunar calendar that is most widely used among Muslims. The other one is a solar calendar officially used in Iran and Afghanistan.
This calendar enumerates the Hijri era, whose epoch was established as the Islamic New Year in 622 CE. During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina and established the first Muslim community (ummah), an event commemorated as the Hijrah. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, "in the year of the Hijrah"). In Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form (سَنَة هِجْرِيَّة, abbreviated ھ). In English, years prior to the Hijra are denoted as BH ("Before the Hijra").
Since 19 July 2023 CE, the current Islamic year is 1445 AH. In the Gregorian calendar reckoning, 1445 AH runs from 19 July 2023 to approximately 7 July 2024.
The ancient Iranian Solar calendar is one of the oldest calendars
in the world, as well as the most accurate solar calendar in use today.
Since the calendar uses astronomical calculation for determining the vernal equinox, it has no intrinsic error. It is older than the Lunar Hijri calendar used by the majority of Muslims (known in the West as the Islamic calendar); though they both count from the Hijrah, the journey of the Islamic prophetMuhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in the year 622, one uses solar years and the other lunar years.
Each of the twelve months corresponds with a zodiac sign, and in Afghanistan the names of the zodiacal signs were used for the months; elsewhere the month names are the same as in the Zoroastrian calendar. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in common years but 30 days in leap years.
The ancient Iranian New Year's Day, which is called Nowruz, always falls on the March equinox. While Nowruz is celebrated by communities in a wide range of countries from the Balkans to Mongolia, the Solar Hijri calendar itself remains only in official use in Iran.
According to Riada Asimovic Akyol while Muslim women's
experiences differs a lot by location and personal situations such as
family upbringing, class and education;
the difference between culture and religions is often ignored by
community and state leaders in many of the Muslim majority countries,
the key issue in the Muslim world regarding gender issues is that
religious texts constructed in highly patriarchal environments and based
on biological essentialism are still valued highly in Islam; hence views emphasizing on men's superiority in unequal gender roles are widespread among many conservative Muslims (men and women).
Orthodox Muslims often believe that rights and responsibilities of
women in Islam are different from that of men and sacrosanct since
assigned by the God. According to Asma Barlas
patriarchal behaviour among Muslims is based in an ideology which
jumbles sexual and biological differences with gender dualisms and
inequality. Modernist discourse of liberal progressive movements like Islamic feminism have been revisiting hermeneutics of feminism in Islam in terms of respect for Muslim women's lives and rights. Riada Asimovic Akyol further says that equality for Muslim women needs to be achieved through self-criticism.
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