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'ilm al-tarikh: Introduction (3) |
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"...the Islamicate heritage is rich ... It's literatures ...
are perhaps unparalleled in -- among other things -- their
mastery of the esoteric as a dimension of human experience."
(Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, Volume 1, 1977, p.98) |
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The Dialectic of a Cultural Tradition
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Creative action;
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Group commitment thereto;
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Cumulative interaction within a group.
Shi'ism/Sunnism
Loyalty to Ali/Loyalty to Ummah
"Thus arose within the Islamic setting two differing
sub-traditions, sub-settings for dialogue, within which the implications of
the original advent of Islam were being worked out in contrasting ways."
(p.83)
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Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (1977)
The Venture of Islam, Volume 1
(University of Chicago Press)
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Halm, H. (1991) Shi’ism: Second Edition
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press) |
Muslim Diversity
"...over time, and especially on a world scale, any particular formulation of
thought or practice is to be seen as the result of how the ever-changing setting
formed by the Islamic tradition is reflected in particular circumstance and in
relation to all the other cultural traditions present..." (p.86)Hodgson
accepts the validity, carefully circumscribed, of a notion of a singular ideal
or metaphysical Islam defined in contrast to the historically manifested Islam
which is the focus of his study. On the contrasting definitions and diversity of
Islam, see:
Varisco, D. M. (2004) Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of
Anthropological Representation (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan)
el-Zein, Abdul Hamid (1977) Beyond Ideology and Theology: The Search for the
Anthropology of Islam, Annual Review of Anthropology
6 p.227-254
Notions of Muslim unity, e.g. pan-Islamism, are contextual to the historical
situation in which such notions arise. Yet Islam is clearly a meaningful whole
with delineated discursive boundaries (even if these change over time) with a
common origin.
The Unity of Islam and a Religious Tradition
"Cultural continuity among the Muslims is most visible on the level of what we
call 'religion' ... But we will find that this religious unity among Muslims is
but one expression of a wider cultural unity." (p.87) This is partly due to the
dominance of Islam within high culture and also because Islamic religious
teachings encompass many aspects of a Muslim's life. |
Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (1977)
The Venture of Islam, Volume 1
(University of Chicago Press)
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Historical Overview: |
Late Sasani
& Primitive Caliphal Periods
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c.(485)-692 CE
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The intrusion of Islam into a Irano-Semitic society and the genesis of a new
social order.
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High Caliphal Period
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c.692-945
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A classical civilization under the Marwani and earlier 'Abbasi
caliphates.
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Earlier Middle islamic Period
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c.945-1258
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Establishment of an international civilization spreading beyond
the Irano-Semitic areas.
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Later Middle Islamic Period
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c.1258-1503
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The age of Mongol prestige; crisis and renewal in the Islamicate
traditions and heritage.
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Period of Gunpowder Empires
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c.1503-1789
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Flowering of Persianate cultures under major regional empires.
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Modern Technical Age
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c.1789-present
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The Islamic heritage caught up in the Modern technicalistic
world.
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"To be blunt, I suggest that continued use of the term
“medieval” in reference to Middle Eastern and Islamic history between the 7th
and the 15 centuries, anno dominated, is anachronistic, misleading and
disorienting."
Daniel Varisco,
Making “Medieval” Islam Meaningful (Tabsir) |
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islam/the
pen |
