Three complications arise in assessing trade by Islamic countries in the modern period. First, the identification of countries as Islamic is a recent development, dating back to 1969 and the establishment of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Second, there is a dearth of data on Islamic countries for most of the modern period.
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The Tijaniyah movement was reared out of controversy. From its very inception (c.1782), its members brought challenge to the accepted notions of monastic order. Abu al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Tijani (born AH I150/1737 CE) at Ayn Madi, southern Algeria), the founder of the brotherhood, proclaimed himself the “pole of poles” (qutb alaqtab) and
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TIJANI, AHMAD AL- (1737-1815), founder of the Tijaniyah Sufi order. Abu al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani was born at `Ayn Madi in southern Algeria. At the age of twenty he visited Fez, where he successively experimented with the litanies of several Sufi orders and was disappointed with all of them. Ten years later, in 1767,
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Commonly taught Muslim creed differs from the highly technical scholarship found in theological works composed under the religious discipline of kaldm (lit., “the speech”), which also includes philosophical and mystical theology. The common creed includes the sources of authority, the minimal and essential articles of faith, and the prominent differences among the major Muslim schools
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THAILAND. About 90 percent of the Thai population of approximately 54 million adheres to the Theravada Buddhist faith. The second-largest religious affiliation is Islamic. Approximately four million people in Thailand profess the Islamic faith and maintain about 2,300 mosques. The Muslims in Thailand comprise two broad, self-defined categories consisting of Malay Muslims residing primarily in
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TEXTILES. The achievements of the weavers, dyers, embroiderers, and pattern designers in the lands of Islam have been acclaimed for more than fifteen hundred years. Textiles were the mainstay of many premodern societies, and they continue to be important in many modern ones. They are woven into the workings of societies in complex ways, distinguishing
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TERRORISM is the deliberate, unjustifiable, and random use of violence for political ends against protected persons. Obviously, there is no inextricable connection between Islam, or any other great religion, and terrorism. In fact, there is often a great confusion between the phenomenon of political violence and terrorism. The term terrorism applies to a special category
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TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCES. Between 100 and 1300 CE, the “golden age of science,” the Arab and greater Islamic world excelled in scientific activity and many fields of technology, such as civil engineering and optics. This edge disappeared with the invasion and destruction of urban Islamic life by the Mongols, the decline of agriculture and
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TA’ZIYAH. The Shi`i passion play called ta’ziyah is the only serious drama ever developed in the Islamic world, except for contemporary Western theater. Ta`ztyah (from the Arabic word `aza’, “mourning”) is mainly performed in Iran. It reenacts the passion and death of Husayn, the beloved grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the third imam of
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Tazir refers to punishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state. It is one of three major types of punishments or sanctions under Sharia Islamic law — hadd, qisas and tazir. The punishments for the hudud offenses are fixed by the Qur’an or Hadith (i.e. “defined by God”),
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