Historical Characteristics of the Islamic World

1. A Brief History of Islamic Expansion

The Period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs (632–661)

After the death of Muhammad, who is regarded in Islam as the final prophet of God, his followers selected a caliph (literally, a “successor” or “deputy”) to lead the community (ummah). Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s closest companion, was chosen as the first caliph. Although Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was also considered a strong candidate, Abu Bakr—being older and enjoying broader trust within the community—assumed leadership of the ummah.

Over time, those who emphasized the legitimacy of Ali’s claim gradually developed a distinct identity; they later came to be known as the Shiʿa. Following Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman, and Ali were successively elected as caliphs, and this period is collectively referred to as the era of the “Rightly Guided Caliphs.” These caliphs sought to prevent the fragmentation of the community and to systematize Islamic doctrine, while simultaneously expanding Islamic rule beyond the Arabian Peninsula into neighboring regions.

The Umayyad Period (661–750)

After the fourth caliph Ali was assassinated by a radical Kharijite, Muʿawiya, the governor of Damascus in Syria, proclaimed himself caliph. By passing the caliphate on to his son, Muʿawiya introduced a hereditary form of rule that marked a departure from earlier practices; this new political order became known as the Umayyad dynasty.

After Muʿawiya’s son Yazid ascended the throne, Husayn, the son of Ali, was killed amid political conflict. Husayn’s death was interpreted by the Shiʿa as martyrdom and became a decisive moment in consolidating Shiʿi belief and communal identity. In contrast, the majority of Muslims continued to uphold the traditions established during the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and came to be identified as Sunnis.

During the Umayyad period, the Arabic language and Islamic culture spread throughout the empire, and within Islamic legal thought there gradually emerged a conceptual division of the world into the “abode of Islam” (dar al-Islam) and the “abode of war” (dar al-harb). On this basis, the empire expanded its territory at a rapid pace.

The Abbasid Period (750–961)

As opposition to Umayyad rule intensified, a revolutionary movement led by the Abbasids—who claimed descent from the family of Muhammad—emerged. Criticizing the Umayyads for having deviated from the ideals of early Islam, the Abbasids succeeded in overthrowing the regime with the support of Persian populations and Shiʿi factions. The dynasty thus established was the Abbasid dynasty.The Abbasids relocated the capital to Baghdad, which at the time was a major international city actively engaged in trade with regions across the known world. Benefiting from these geographic and economic conditions, the Abbasid Empire inaugurated an Islamic Golden Age marked by the flourishing of scholarship, science, philosophy, and the arts.

Although the Abbasid revolution succeeded with the backing of Shiʿi groups by emphasizing descent from Muhammad’s family, the new rulers officially adopted Sunni religious traditions after coming to power in order to secure political stability and integrate a broad community. During this process, the term “Sunni” became firmly established, and orthodox Islamic doctrine and legal systems were systematically developed. Nevertheless, the Islamic world gradually failed to remain unified under a single political authority. In 756, an Umayyad descendant established the Umayyad Emirate of al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, and in 909 the Shiʿi Fatimid dynasty emerged in North Africa. With the proclamation of a caliph in al-Andalus in 961, a polycentric system took shape in which three caliphs—the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, the Fatimid caliph in Cairo, and the Umayyad caliph in al-Andalus—coexisted simultaneously. Although the political power of the Abbasids steadily declined thereafter, they retained their role as the center of religious authority until Baghdad was captured by the Mongols in 1258.

The Islamization of the Turks and the Seljuk Empire (9th–11th Centuries)

The full-scale integration of Turkic peoples into the Islamic world began after the ninth century, when the Abbasid Empire employed Turkic soldiers as military slaves, known as mamluks. These Turkic groups, equipped with highly specialized military skills, gradually expanded their political influence, leading to the emergence of Turkic Islamic states such as the Ghaznavid dynasty in Central Asia and Iran.

Within this broader context, the Seljuk Turks defeated the Ghaznavids in the eleventh century and established a vast empire. The Seljuks voluntarily adopted Islam as the state religion and respected the Abbasid caliph as the supreme religious authority, while the Abbasid caliph, in turn, formally recognized the Seljuk sultan’s control over military and administrative power.The Seljuk Empire combined Turkic military strength with Persian administrative traditions to construct a stable imperial system, and through the institutional reforms of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, it systematized the Sunni Islamic order. By decisively defeating the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuks initiated the Turkification of Anatolia. This victory generated a profound sense of structural crisis within Byzantium and the Western Christian world, serving as a catalyst for the Crusades. Ultimately, the Seljuk Empire marked a turning point at which Turkic powers emerged as the central actors in the Islamic world and laid the foundations for the Turkic-Sunni Islamic tradition that would later be inherited by the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire and the Reconfiguration of the Islamic World (1299–1922)

The Islamic world experienced prolonged instability as a result of the Crusades and the Mongol invasions. During this period, Sufi orders played a crucial role in preserving and revitalizing Islamic faith within local communities. On this foundation, the Ottoman Turks emerged and established a Sunni Islamic empire that inherited the Seljuk legacy.

Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire expanded into a vast realm encompassing Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. Meanwhile, in Persia, the Safavid Empire arose and adopted Shiʿism as its state religion, bringing it into direct confrontation with the Ottomans. From this period onward, Sunni Islam became closely associated with the Turkic world, while Shiʿism became linked to the Persian world, and Islam expanded beyond its Arab-centered origins to become a universal religion.

In the east, Babur—who claimed descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur—founded the Mughal Empire and spread Islamic culture across regions corresponding to present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

By the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire had become the center of Sunni Islam, the Safavid Empire represented the Shiʿi tradition, and the Mughal Empire demonstrated Islam’s capacity to encompass diverse religions and ethnicities. Together, these three empires constituted the major powers of the Islamic world.

2. Islamic Responses to the Modern World

By the seventeenth century, the Islamic world—after centuries of expansion—began to fall behind in the face of the rise of the modern West, experiencing repeated military defeats and subjugation under European imperial powers. Tamim Ansary (2011) summarizes Islamic responses to the modern world into three broad currents: Islamism, secular modernism, and Islamic modernism.

1) Islamism

Islamism holds that the problem lies not in Islamic doctrine itself, but in the corrupted practices of the Muslim community. It argues that through processes of innovation, modification, and elaboration, authentic faith has been distorted, such that no one is truly practicing genuine Islam. Islamists therefore advocate blocking Western influence and restoring Islam to its original sacred form.Abd al-Wahhab of the Arabian Peninsula is a representative Islamist figure. Wahhabism emphasizes tawhid (the doctrine of divine unity) and the error of shirk (the belief that humans or objects can possess any degree of divine quality), and it defines not only apostates but also innovators who alter Islam as enemies of the faith. It flourished in Arabia and India, gave rise to Deobandism in India and Pakistan, and influenced the Taliban in Afghanistan.

2) Secular Modernism

Secular modernism asserts that the Western model is correct. It argues that Muslims have fallen into the quagmire of outdated religious ideas and have allowed ignorant clerics to dominate Islam. Advocates call for abandoning superstition and magical thinking and for modernizing Islam so that it may function as an ethical system compatible with science and secular life.

Sayyid Ahmad of Aligarh in India is a representative figure. Born in Delhi in 1817, he grew up in a high-status, modern, and Western-oriented family and came to believe that the British were superior to Indians. The Aligarh Movement he championed encouraged understanding Islam primarily as an ethical system, amounting to a form of liberal theology. He founded the modern Aligarh College, whose students and faculty became the seeds of secular modernization movements.

Many thinkers shared similar ideas. In Iran, the establishment of the Dar al-Funun, a modern institution of higher education, promoted modernization, while in the Ottoman Empire the activities of modernists led to the Tanzimat reforms.

In this way, Muslim societies hastened economic development by emulating the West while treating democracy as a secondary concern. In Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan, rulers pursued secular modernist policies, while in other parts of the Islamic world monarchs remained in power but faced intense independence movements led by secular modernists. Secular modernism thus became the dominant current in the Islamic world.

3) Islamic Modernism

Islamic modernism maintains that while Islam is indeed a true religion, there are important lessons to be learned from the West. Muslims, it argues, should rediscover and strengthen their own faith, history, and traditions while simultaneously adopting Western knowledge in science and technology. From this perspective, science and Islam are compatible, and modernization does not necessarily entail Westernization.

Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani is a representative figure of this movement. Having traveled widely, he published articles arguing that Islam is a rational religion and established the principles of Pan-Islamism. He framed contemporary international issues as conflicts between Islam and the West and exerted even greater influence after his death through his disciples. His student Muhammad Abduh trained future scholars at al-Azhar University, while Abduh’s associate Rashid Rida studied models of modern state governance compatible with Islam. Hasan al-Banna also belonged to this intellectual lineage and founded the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood identified secularized Islam and Westernized elites as its primary adversaries and advocated a form of Pan-Islamic modernism that rejected Westernization. References Ansary, T. (2011). Destiny disrupted: A history of the world through Islamic eyes (H. Ryu, Trans.). Ppurigwa Ipali. (Original work published 2009)