HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Spread of Islam, Islamic Law, and Arabic Language
38
The rapid spread of Islam acted as a formida-
Being the language of the Koran, Arabic
ble force of change in the Old World. By the
was carried to the new converts. Becoming
end of the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab (d.
the lingua franca of medieval Islam, the dis-
644), the whole of the Arabian Peninsula was
tinctiveness of Arabic was evident in all
conquered, together with most of the Sasan-
spheres of high culture, from religious to
ian Empire, as well as the Syrian and Egyptian
legal, official, intellectual, and literary dic-
provinces of Byzantium. Following the tragic
tions. While in the western provinces Arabic
Battle of Karbala, which led to the death of
dominated the vernacular dialects, Persian
Imam al-Hussein (AD 680), a new phase was
remained in use eastward; witnessing a liter-
ushered in with the making of the Umayyad
ary revival in the tenth century
Empire (661–750), which eventually extended
unfurling of an Arabo-Persian idiom, which
its dominion from the Ebro River in Spain to
became prevalent across Iran as well as
the Oxus Valley in Central Asia. Claiming uni-
Transoxiana and northern India.
AD
with the
versal authority over far-reaching frontiers,
A theme that recurs in this formative peri-
the Umayyad dynasty took Damascus as its
od of Islamic thought is the relationship,
capital city, and remained virtually unchal-
often tense, between revelation and reason.
lenged in its reign until the rise of the Abbasid
Under the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun (r.
caliphate with its capital in Baghdad
813–833) there existed a group of theologians
(749–1258). While Spain continued to be
known as the Mutazila. They had absorbed
under Umayyad rule (756–1031), new regional
the work of Greek philosophers and adopted
powers confronted the Abbasid hegemony, like
a rationalist style of argumentation that
the Fatimids in Egypt (909–1171), and the
equated God with pure reason. For the
Saljuqs in Iran and Iraq (1038–1194), along
Mutazila the world created by God operated
with waves of Crusader invaders in the Levant.
according to rational principles humans could
Numerous traditions in thought flourished,
understand by exercising reason. As free
like the Sunni schools of legal reasoning
agents, humans were morally responsible for
(hanafi, maliki, shafii, hanbali) and the
their actions, and since good and evil had
“Twelver Shiite” lineage descending from the
intrinsic value, God’s justice was constrained
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661). The upsurge in
by universal laws. They held to the view that
intellectual activities was also marked by the
the Koran was created in time, inspired by
founding of the mutazila and ashari methods of
God in Muhammad, but not part of his
kalam, in addition to the maturation of philos-
essence. Their opponents, the hadith scholars,
ophy, the sciences, and mysticism. Many
insisted that the Koran was “uncreated” and
notable centers of learning were established,
coeternal with God. They believed it was not
along with associated productions of manu-
for man to question God’s injunctions or
scripts, like al-Azhar in Cairo, the Zaytuna in
explore them intellectually, and that all
Tunis, the Qarawiyyin in Fez, the coteries of
human action was ultimately predetermined.
Córdoba in Andalusia, the schools of Najaf and
The Mutazili view, buttressed by the mihna
Karbala in Iraq, and those of Qumm and Mash-
(an “inquisition” or test applied to ulama and
had in Iran.
public officials), held sway for a period. How-