Key insights from Karen Armstrong's Islam: A Short History
23 minutes
Audiobook
The story of Islam’s origins, theology, and politics.
In this Snapshot, you will learn about the historical context of the creation of Islam and how this religion grew into an expansive, flourishing culture.
You will also learn how colonialism adversely affected Muslim communities around the world and why Islam is much more complex than media portrayals suggest.
READ THIS SNAPSHOT IF YOU:
Want to learn about the history and development of Islam
Feel wary of Islam and its allegedly violent role in the world today
Are curious about the origins of one of the most widely practiced religions in the world
An examination of Islam’s origins and development reveals a religion committed
to social justice and the creation of a more compassionate society.
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Beginnings
Islam was born during the month of Ramadan in the year 610 CE. Muhammad, an
Arab businessman, was in the midst of his annual retreat to a cave in Mount Hira,
just outside the city of Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. During this retreat,
Muhammad prayed, fasted, and gave to the poor.
Muhammad’s spirit was especially troubled in 610, for he was worried about the
to its lucrative mercantile trade. But Muhammad noticed that the wealthier elites
were not doing their part to help care for the more vulnerable members of the tribe.
Instead of abiding by the traditional nomadic code of solidarity and care, the most
successful members of the tribe were looking out for themselves only. This increasing disparity in wealth weighed heavily on Muhammad’s heart.
Furthermore, Muhammad was alive during a time of spiritual malaise for the
broader Arab community. Most of Muhammad’s contemporaries subscribed to
some form of paganism, and many believed that the high god of the Arab pan
theon, known as Allah, was the same deity venerated by Christians and Jews. This
deity had not sent the Arabs their own prophet or scriptures in their native tongue.
It appeared to them that God had excluded the Arab world from his divine message. Muhammad and his peers were at a loss: When would God present them
with their own accessible route to the divine word? And was there a divine solution to the problem of growing socioeconomic inequality?
Muhammad’s revelation at Mount Hira solved both of these problems. Muham
mad woke one night to the sensation of a squeezing around his body that forced a
divine message from his lips. His revelations became the earliest version of the
Quran.
After two years of silence, Muhammad finally felt confident enough to begin
sharing his revelations. Muhammad did not see his work as the founding of a com
pletely new religion; he simply sought to revive the basic values that Arab society
had once extolled but seemed to have forgotten. Muhammad preached the inevitability of the end times, during which every individual would be judged by God.
This made it especially important to create a society that was just and compassionate. Muhammad extolled the practice of caring for the poor and treating them with dignity rather than collecting private wealth. Muhammad’s new sect would eventually be called Islam, meaning “surrender.”
It called on followers to fully submit themselves to Allah and to obey Allah’s com
mand that humans treat one another with justice and compassion. This commit
ment to egalitarian humility was made manifest in Islam’s new rituals. For in
stance, Muslims were required to pray by prostrating themselves against the
ground three times each day. This humbling routine was meant to undo the selfish
arrogance and hardness of heart that had become so prevalent in Mecca. Muslims
were also called to give a portion of their income to the poor and to fast during Ra
madan — to become more mindful of the routine deprivations experienced by the
most vulnerable.
From the very beginning, social justice was the foundation of Islam. Muhammad, who wrote out the entire Quran over the course of two decades, usually experienced a new revelation when he was contemplating the needs of his social
landscape. His divine messages arrived when he was meditating on the political
and economic plights within his society and considering possible solutions. The
Quran functioned as a divine response to humanity’s most pressing socioeconomic problems.
Furthermore, Muhammad’s teachings emphasized right living over right theology. He argued that the equal distribution of wealth and the creation of a compassionate society were far more important than splitting hairs over doctrine. For the first Muslims, social and political engagement were sacramental: Allah was
present not through private worship or theological nitpicking but through godly so
cial action. This, Muhammad argued, was God’s original message in Christianity,
Judaism, and paganism; Islam originally saw itself simply as a revival of widely
known, basic moral teachings.
Although 70 local families converted to Islam, local Mecca elites had soundly rejected Muhammad by 616. They argued that Muhammad was a charlatan, and they probably resented his implication that their new wealth was an affront to Allah’s calling. Muslims faced increased persecution and tense community relations. In 620 Muhammad and his followers left Mecca to start a tribe of their own in the cityof Medina. This was an important step for Islam, as it allowed Muhammad to implement the Quranic ideal of a completely just and compassionate society within his own small community.
The next 10 years were turbulent but were crucial for Islam. During that time,
Muhammad made friendly connections with smaller Jewish tribes and defeated
both Jewish and Arab communities that sought to destroy his humble following.
Because Muhammad’s followers were able to punch above their weight in terms of
military strength, Muhammad brought a new level of peace to the region. During
this time, Muhammad also expanded his confederacy of tribes and instigated a
policy of tolerance in his new society. Because he saw Jews and Christians as fellow followers of Allah, he never forced anyone to convert to Islam. Under Muhammad’s rule, Muslims and non-Muslims lived together in relative peace.
Growing Pains
When Muhammad died in 632, he was seen as one of the most powerful men in
Arabia. After his death, the Muslim community (ummah) faced new questions of
leadership. Muhammad had skill and wisdom because of his divine revelations.
Without this immediate connection to the divine, how would the Muslim commu
nity move forward and maintain a balanced and just society?
Disagreements arose over the best strategy for governance. Some believed that
Islam should take on a more formal, statelike structure, while others argued that
each region should select its own tribal leader. Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad’s
closest companions and his first successor, believed that the Muslim community
should remain united, so he implemented a distinct ruling strategy to preserve a
cohesive Muslim society.
Abu Bakr was responsible for settling various factional uprisings during his brief
tenure. This experience taught him that the ummah’s unity could be preserved
through outwardly directed raids. These lucrative offenses not only increased the
wealth of the community but also created a common goal that helped maintain a
sense of unity.
Thanks to this particular strategy, Islam outgrew the confines of the Arabian
Peninsula. One century after the death of Muhammad, his ummah stretched from
the Iberian Peninsula to the Himalayas. As the Islamic Empire expanded, its lead
ers, or caliphs, continued their policy of religious tolerance. Because most of the
people they conquered were Jews or Christians, who were fellow “people of the
book,” Muslims treated them as protected individuals and never forced them to
convert. Instead, they were proud to treat their new subjects with respect.
The Sunni–Shia Split
As the geography of the Islamic Empire grew, so, too, did disagreements about the best way to rule. This led to the most well-known divide in Muslim politics: the
split between Sunni and Shia Muslims. In the immediate aftermath of Muhammad’s death, some Muslims maintained that Muhammad’s cousin, a young man by the name of Ali ibn Abi Talib, should be the next ruler. Although Ali was not chosen right away, he eventually became the fourth caliph, in 656. However, Ali’s reign was cut short when he was assassinated in 661.
For centuries after Ali’s death, Muslims continued to disagree about the rightful
rulers of the Islamic Empire. The Shia faction, known as the Shiah i-Ali (partisans
of Ali), believed that Ali should have been the first caliph to follow Muhammad and
that the three caliphs who came before him were illegitimate usurpers. Shias were
also horrified by Ali’s murder. They saw it as a sign that rulers who were outside of
Ali’s lineage were unfit to rule according to the Quranic standard of justice.
Sunnis, on the other hand, believed that the caliphs who first followed Muham
mad had been legitimate rulers. They acknowledged the shortcomings and turmoil
within these regimes but nevertheless maintained that each caliph had been more
righteous than the corrupt tribal culture that Muhammad had decried. They be
lieved that Muslims were still capable of living out a holy, Quranic culture, despite
an imperfect political past.
The Rise of Sharia Law
Today, the concept of sharia law inspires both fear and confusion for Westerners.
This term might make you think of laws that oppress women or a theocratic gov
ernment that imposes overly strict behavioral standards. In reality, sharia law is far more complex than these snap judgments might suggest. Hundreds of years ago, sharia law began as a protest against government corruption and served as an egalitarian device designed to give power to ordinary Muslims.
During the ninth-century reign of the Abbasid Caliphate, extensive debates about
the application of Islamic law inspired the traditions of sharia law. In this era, Mus
lim society was divided about how to integrate the statutes of the Quran into con
temporary legal practice. Many believed that the culture of the empire’s court sys
tem was far too aristocratic and was therefore divorced from the Quran’s egalitarian message. They argued that higher government officials were more interested in accumulating their own personal wealth and power than creating the just and compassionate society that Muhammad had envisioned.
Sharia law was a strategy for protesting this political corruption. Its inspiration
was the actual life of Muhammad. Sharia posited that the individual could mimic
the Prophet’s way of life and thereby cultivate his perfect attitude of surrender to
Allah. Practicing sharia was an intensely disciplined form of imitation, entailing
reproduction of the most mundane aspects of Muhammad’s daily life. By eating,
praying, bathing, and speaking exactly as the Prophet did, Muslims hoped to repro
duce his perfect faith for themselves.
Sharia became a popular form of piety because it gave Muslims their own path
to holiness. Even if judges and courts were corrupt, ordinary Muslims could still
do their own part to implement Muhammad’s ideal society. Sharia law also gave
each Muslim a unique mandate to abide by Allah’s standards of justice. It was an
egalitarian development because it charged even ordinary Muslims with a call to
submission. Ordinary Muslims didn’t need a particular caliph or judge to expe
rience Allah or contribute to a more just society. Instead, they could achieve faith
like Muhammad’s by simply living out his example.
Culmination
After political turmoil and the subsequent disintegration of the Abbasid Empire, it
became clear that the concept of one united Islamic caliphate was no longer feasible; Islamdom was simply too big and too diverse. But the loss of a united
caliphate actually spurred the development of Islam’s empire. New cities sprang up and became cultural hubs for their respective regions. The city of Cordova flour
ished, and its cultural renaissance birthed new cultural stars, such as the poet Ibn
Hazam and the philosopher Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes, whose ideas
greatly influenced Thomas Aquinas and Maimonides. Cairo became an intellectual
center as the home of al-Azhar, which eventually became one of the most impor
tant Islamic universities in the world.
Throughout the previous centuries, Islam had been rife with tension between
absolutist styles of aristocratic monarchy and the egalitarian vision of the Quran.
Because Islamdom broke into a collection of independent courts and regional gov
ernments that held onto a loose national unity, it was able to overcome the political tensions that had caused so much turmoil for ththe previous caliphates.
The Mongols
In the 13th century, Genghis Khan’s growing empire took over most Islamic terri
tory. While the Mongol invasions brought devastating political upheaval to Islam’s
many regions, it also brought an opportunity for Islam’s continued growth. Al
though the Mongol invaders showed a slight preference for Buddhism, they im
posed no new religion on their conquered territories and allowed native traditions
to remain intact. Consequently, all four Mongol states were converted to Islam, a development that expanded Islam’s scope and reinforced its powerful global image.
The Impact of Colonialism
Understanding the recent developments in many Islamic countries requires an understanding of how the colonial system ultimately harms a colonized region. As
Western powers increased their own wealth and military strength, they created
colonies that would help sustain their continued growth. In the 17th and 18th cen
turies, the modernizing societies in the West needed new markets and resources;
colonized territories provided raw materials that could feed manufacturing and
economic progress for their Western conquerors. In turn, the West made money
off its colonies by selling them cheaply manufactured imports. This colonial dynamic not only exploited the resources of the colonized but also harmed their local economies, which could not compete with the influx of cheap goods from overseas.
The rise of Western colonialism ultimately stunted the growth of many Islamic
societies. In the late 18th century, for instance, British traders took over the city of Bengal, which had been previously occupied by Muslim and Hindu merchants.
This phase is commonly known as the “plundering of Bengal” because it permanently altered Bengal’s economy. Farmers no longer grew crops and raw materials to feed their own local economy. They were not encouraged to develop an industrial economy of their own; they were stuck in an inferior supporting role for the industrial growth of the British Empire. British imperialists enforced this dependence by introducing modern technology to Bengali society only if it helped reinforce British hegemony.
The plundering of Bengal was followed by political domination. Through either violent conquest or treaty, the British had consolidated their rule in India by 1849. At the same time, Protestant missionaries flooded the region to “civilize” the unruly native populations. Colonialism was a war against native culture that decimated the economic self-sufficiency, political autonomy, and cultural norms of many Islamic regions.
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The plundering of Bengal played out over and over again as European powers colonized one Islamic country after another. Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, and Sudan all fell under European control throughout the 19th century. After World War I,Britain and France set up protectorate states in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq. In 1948, when the Palestinian Arabs lost their homeland in the creation of Israel, the loss of Palestine became a symbol of Islam’s tragic history: It reminded Muslims around the world that the West had no problem displacing Muslims residents, taking advantage of Muslim economies, and destabilizing Muslim societies for the sake of modern industrial gains. Moreover, the colonial narrative embodied the very inequality and injustice that the Islamic faith had historically opposed.
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Islam has always been a political religion. It was inspired by Muhammad’s desire
to create a more just and compassionate society, and much of the Quran was in
spired by Muhammad’s reflections about concrete problems within his political
life. Furthermore, early Muslims saw their political victories as a sign of divine
favor. Unlike Christians, who view Jesus’ death as a sign of God’s presence in the
world, Muslims see God’s presence in their many victories, such as the growth of
Muhammad’s early tribe and the expansion of Islamic society. In recent centuries,
during the devastating wake of colonialism, Muslims found themselves at a loss.
Was their defeat and humiliation a sign of divine displeasure?
The wounds created by Western imperialism led to new attempts at fulfilling
Muhammad’s vision and creating a truly Quranic society. These attempts led to the
conservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the modern experiment of Pakistan.
Other Quranic visions led to more violent efforts, most notably the rise of Islamic
extremism, which to many Westerners typifies Islamic theology. However, reducing to Islam to its fundamentalist strains is an inaccurate summation of a complex history. Every religion contains its own fundamentalist sects, and it would be amistake to assume that Islam possesses sole ownership of religious violence.
Conclusion
Islam isn’t about suicide bombings and political extremism; its history and theology encapsulate much more than these reductive Western portrayals suggest. At its core, Islam represents a desire to create a better society, one that is driven by justice and compassion rather than wealth and oppression.
To see Islam only in terms of its recent violence is to miss a much greater story
about political advocacy, social justice, and the deep-seated, collective desire to
create a more equitable world.
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