The S\u00fcleymaniye, named after the great Ottoman sultan who built it, dominates one of the hills of modern Istanbul. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least once, and perhaps twice, I used Daniel W. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam<\/em>, 2d. ed. (Malden MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) as the principal text for my introductory course on the religion of Islam. \u00a0Along the way, I marked a few passages that reminded me of points that I myself wanted to make in a revised third edition of my book on Islam for Latter-day Saints (on which I\u2019m finally beginning to really get to work). \u00a0Here are two of those passages:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the height of Ottoman power under Sulayman \u201cthe Lawgiver\u201d (also known as \u201cthe Magnificent\u201d), who reigned for forty-six years from 1520 to 1566, the empire encircled the Black and Red Seas, and encompassed three-quarters of the Mediterranean coast. \u00a0The Ottomans ruled over vast numbers of non-Muslim subjects, and the Turkish armies were the terror of Europe. \u00a0In 1529 Sulayman\u2019s forces laid siege to Vienna, and would certainly have taken it had their troops not been so eager to get home before winter.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile the Ottomans were expanding into Europe, a rival Muslim empire was growing in Persia. \u00a0In 1501 the leader of a radical Shi\u2018i sufi order conquered Tabriz, set himself up as ruler, and pronounced Twelver Shi\u2018ism the creed of the state. \u00a0Isma\u2018il thus became the founder of the Safavid empire and the most successful and intolerant Shi\u2018i ruler since the fall of the Fatimids. \u00a0Isma\u2018il seems to have aimed at no less than the complete destruction of Sunni Islam, and in the territory that came fully under his control he was astonishingly successful. \u00a0He enforced the ritual cursing of the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr, \u2018Umar, and \u2018Uthman, as usurpers, disbanded Sunni tariqas and seized their assets, faced Sunni \u2018ulama\u2019 with the choice of conversion, death, or exile, and imported Shi\u2018i scholars to replace them. \u00a0The almost complete predominance of Twelver Shi\u2018ism in modern Iran and southern Iraq is largely Shah Isma\u2018il\u2019s doing. \u00a0(235-236)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The result was, for the first time, a sharp divide between Shi\u2018i and Sunni Islam along geographical lines. \u00a0The split deeply affected the \u2018ulama\u2019, who were ghettoized. \u00a0Consequently, Shi\u2018i and Sunni intellectual culture moved in different directions. \u00a0The division also had a profound effect on the development of popular piety. \u00a0In Safavid lands the dominant religious form of sunni Islam, tariqa sufism, was replaced with popular Shi\u2018i piety, centered on the remembrance of the passion of Husayn at Karbala\u2019 and encouraging hatred of Sunnis. \u00a0Under the Safavids the celebration of the passion of Husayn during the month of Muharram came to be manifested in large-scale public rituals, including funeral processions, self-flagellation, and passion plays. \u00a0(237)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 At least once, and perhaps twice, I used Daniel W. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam, 2d. ed. (Malden MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) as the principal text for my introductory course on the religion of Islam. \u00a0Along the way, I marked a few passages that reminded me of points that I myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7497,12464,864,66,12476,996,999,4123,798,795,1110,858,9285,11054,1113,12470,12467,12473,153,3580],"class_list":["post-85819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anatolia","tag-empire","tag-iran","tag-islam","tag-ismail","tag-middle-east","tag-near-east","tag-ottoman","tag-ottoman-empire","tag-ottomans","tag-persia","tag-safavid","tag-safavids","tag-shii","tag-shiite","tag-sulayman","tag-suleyman","tag-sultan","tag-sunni","tag-turkey"],"yoast_head":"\n
Enter the age of Marshall Hodgson's "Gunpowder Empires"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" At least once, and perhaps twice, I used Daniel W. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam, 2d. ed. (Malden MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/06\/enter-the-age-of-marshall-hodgsons-gunpowder-empires.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Enter the age of Marshall Hodgson's "Gunpowder Empires"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" At least once, and perhaps twice, I used Daniel W. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam, 2d. ed. 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