MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

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to the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and central Asia. In the mid-8th
century, Islamic civilisation flourished in poetry, commerce, arts and science under
the Abbasid Dynasty, which moved the capital of the caliphate to Baghdad and made
the city one of the cultural centres of the world at the time. Islamic law (shariah),
which was extensive but uncoordinated, was systematised during the 8th and 9th
centuries. However, in the 9th and 10th centuries, the caliphate showed signs of
fracture with the rise of regional dynasties. 87
Shariah 88 is the Islamic law established in the Koran and haddith. Its scope is wide, since
it regulates Muslims’ relationships not only among themselves and with the state, but
also with God. Ritual practices, ethical standards and legal rules (in both private and
public activities) are all integral parts of Shariah law. Historically, many aspects of life –
penal laws, laws of transactions, family laws and succession laws – were regulated by
Shariah laws and applied by Shariah courts. During the 19th century, Muslim society,
with the exception of the Arabian peninsula, brought about radical changes in the fields
of Shariah civil and criminal law, because of the needs of the time, introducing codes
based upon new models and a system of secular tribunals to apply them.
Starting in 1095, alliances of European Christian kingdoms mobilised their resources
to initiate the Crusades, with the religious aim (among others) of taking the Holy Land.
Numerous Crusades were organised in the following 500 years, in which various
Muslim groups and Islamic dynasties fought against the numerous European Christian
forces. Historically, the presentation of the European and Arab versions of the Crusades
had very little in common, apart from shaping different perceptions and stereotyped
images about the other side. After the defeat of the crusaders by Muslim armies, the
Arab version of the Crusades became “a heroic story of how the Muslims overcame
their rivalries and united long enough to win a holy war.” 89
From the 11th century onwards, Islam continued to be adopted and spread under
various dynasties (as de facto rulers of the caliphate) such as the Seljuk Turks (12th
century), the Mamluk Dynasty (13th century) and the Ottoman Empire (13th century
onwards). In 1453, Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, was besieged and conquered
by the Ottoman Empire. In the 15th and 16th centuries, three major Muslim empires
reigned: the Ottoman Empire in much of the Middle East, the Balkans and northern
Africa; the Shi’ite Safavid Empire in Iran; and the Mughul Empire in most of present-day
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Relations between the Muslim empires
were not free from rivalry. 90 By the end of the 19th century, the Muslim empires had
declined significantly and by the early 20th century, with the Ottomans’ defeat in World
War I, the last one collapsed. 91 The 20th century witnessed the rise of nationalism in
the Arab and Muslim world and the birth of independent, predominantly Muslim states,
which adopted many interpretations of Islam and many schools of thought and law
from the history of Islam.
Jihad 92 is rooted in the Koran’s command to struggle (as the literal meaning) in the path of
God and in the example of the Prophet Muhammad. It relates to two meanings: struggling
against the evil in oneself – to be virtuous and moral, making a serious effort to do good
works and help to reform society – and fighting injustice and oppression, spreading and
defending Islam, and creating a just society through preaching, teaching and, if necessary,
armed struggle or holy war.
Themes