Aurangzeb and Islamic Rule in India

When historians look back at Muslim rule in India, their perspective greatly shapes the way they present historical characters. Some people are seen as great and enlightened leaders, while others are ruthless tyrants. No one is more controversial than the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, who ruled from 1658 to 1707.

By Hindus and Sikhs, he is seen as a cruel and ruthless emperor that restricted freedoms and imposed a religiously intolerant regime on the people. By Muslims he is seen as a devoted and religious-minded just sultan. This article will look past the rhetoric about Aurangzeb to understand him as a Muslim ruler in a Hindu-dominated country

Background and Early Life

An example of the Quranic calligraphy written by Aurangzeb

It is important when looking at the 49 year reign of Aurangzeb to understand his reign in context. The Mughals took power in India during the reign of Babur in the 1500s. Over 150 years later when Aurangzeb took power, the Mughal Empire was at is pinnacle. It controlled the majority of the Indian subcontinent and was one of the wealthiest (if not the wealthiest outright) empires in the world.

Aurangzeb was thus born into powerful and cosmopolitan state with immense riches in 1618. His father was the legendary Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal in Agra. He was afforded the best scholars and teachers to educate him from a young age. As a young boy, he became well-versed in the Quran, the science of Hadith, and other aspects of Islamic sciences. He was known as a very enthusiastic reader. He read and wrote in Arabic, Persian, and Chagatai Turkic, the language of his ancestors. He was also trained in the art of calligraphy. Some of his calligraphic works are still in existence today.

Promotion of Islam

One of Aurangzeb’s main goals was to bring true Islamic governance to the Mughal Empire. Previous emperors, while all Muslim, had not all ruled according to Islamic law. His great grandfather Akbar, for example, regularly went against Islamic beliefs by adopting many non-Islamic religious beliefs and practices in his personal life as well as in his rule of the empire. Aurangzeb’s insistence on Islamic rule was based on his previous education and his strong religious convictions.

Al-Fatawa al-Hindiya, the book of Islamic law compiled by Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb took power before his father, Shah Jahan, had passed away. Despite the respect he had for his father, Aurangzeb vehemently disagreed with many of his fathers actions, considering them to be wasteful and extravagant. An example of his religious mindset was his criticism of the Taj Mahal, which was a tomb built by Shah Jahan for Aurangzeb’s mother, Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb considered it to be against the religious laws of Islam to build a structure over a grave, particularly one that was so ornate and expensive. He declared “the lawfulness of a solid construction over a grave is doubtful, and there can be no doubt about the extravagance involved.” He also made it a point to publicly oppose excessive veneration of the graves of Sufis, as he noted that it was developing into a cult-like practice, away from the beliefs and practices of Islam.

In order to practice Islamic law in the empire correctly, Aurangzeb insisted on compiling Islamic law into a codified book that could be much more easily followed. He thus brought together hundreds of scholars of Islam from all over the Muslim world to organize such laws. The result was a landmark text of fiqh (jurisprudence) in the Hanafi school, known as the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, meaning “The Religious Decrees of Alamgir”. It was known as the Fatawa al-Hindiya (الفتاوى الهندية) in the rest of the Muslim world and is well-respected as a compendium ofHanafi law.

Using the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri as a guidebook, Aurangzeb sent officials throughout the empire to enact Islamic law and end socially corrupt practices. As such, alcoholism, gambling, and prostitution were combated by the imperial government. Taxes that were not in line with Islamic law were also abolished, a policy that was very popular with the Mughal Empire’s subjects.

To make up for the loss in tax revenue, Aurangzeb adopted a very simple lifestyle and did not live in a lavish manner as his father had. Royal traditions that he considered extravagant were abolished, such as court musicians and festivities on the emperor’s birthday.

Relations With Hindus and Sikhs

While the accomplishments and religious-mindedness of Aurangzeb’s reign is indisputable  there are those historians and academics who insist that the lasting legacy of Aurangzeb is intolerance and oppression. He is commonly cited as a temple-destroyer and someone who attempted to eliminate non-Muslims in his empire. For the truth, some more context is necessary.

With regards to his attitudes towards Hindus and Sikhs in general, he was clearly not prejudiced nor discriminatory. Dozens of Hindus worked in his royal court as officials and advisers. More non-Muslims in fact were part of his court than the court of Akbar, who is commonly cited as a the most religiously tolerant Mughal emperor. With Hindus and Sikhs occupying positions in his government and military, clearly Aurangzeb was not simply a religious bigot that refused to acknowledge the contributions of his non-Muslim subjects.

The second issue that comes up in analysis’ of Aurangzeb’s rule is instances of him destroying Hindu and Sikh temples and refusing to allow new ones to be built. That he ordered such actions is a historical fact that cannot be disputed.

Aurangzeb’s court included dozens of non-Muslim officials

Preservation of temples with Islamic religious justification is a long-running tradition in India. The first Muslim army to come to India in 711 under Muhammad bin Qasim promised religious freedom and security of temples to Hindus and Buddhists. The same policy had been followed for hundreds of years before the Mughals. However, Aurangzeb did not disregard the Islamic laws regarding protection of religious minorities. Aurangzeb himself even noted that Islamically, temple desecration was not permitted when in 1659 he wrote, “According to the Shariah [Islamic law], and the exalted creed, it has been established that ancient temples should not be torn down.” 1 

So if Aurangzeb did not demolish temples for religious reasons, why did he do it? The answer lies in the political nature of temples in the 1600s.

Hindu and Sikh temples (unlike Muslim mosques) were not just places of worship. They also had political significance. Temples acted as political offices and state property, and the priests that were in charge of them were in the employ of the government. When seeking to get the support of Hindus in a particular area, Mughal emperors (and even Hindu kings in non-Mughal areas) would rely on the priests to rally the local population through the temple. As such, a temple was more than just a religious building, it was also a potentially powerful political tool.

With this understanding of temples and their significance, we can move on to understand Aurangzeb’s destruction of certain temples. No historical records show that he had an indiscriminate policy of temple destruction across India. The temples he chose to destroy were carefully selected and a small fraction of the total Hindu houses of worship in India. This is because when Aurangzeb chose a temple for destruction, it was a politically motivated act, not a religious one.

Seeing the opulence and subsequent financial strain of the Mughals during the reign of Shah Jahan, numerous local governors and priests decided to rebel against Mughal authority during the reign of Aurangzeb. When a rebellion broke out in one part of the empire, the local temple was the natural political entity that rebels could rally against. So long as the rebel leaders and their client temples existed, the threat to the Mughal government existed.

Aurangzeb Reading Quran

It thus became a policy when fighting rebellions against central authority, that the temple that spawned that rebellion also be destroyed. An example of this was a 1669 rebellion in Banaras led by a political rival, Shivaji, who used the local temple to rally support to his cause. After capturing Shivaji, Aurangzeb destroyed a temple in Banaras that was used as a political recruiting ground against his reign. Another example occurred in 1670 in Mathura when Jats rebelled and killed a local Muslim leader. Again, to end the rebellion Aurangzeb had to destroy the temple that had supported it.

Overall, the policy of desecrating temples was used as a political punishment for disloyal Hindu officials, not as a sign of religious intolerance as some may argue. A further argument that the lack of mosque desecration means he was religiously bigoted also holds no ground, as mosques did not double as political institutions as temples did. While the policy of obliterating a political opponent’s base of operations is one that may have its detractors, the arguments that Aurangzeb’s actions were religiously motivated are clearly baseless.  Instead, Aurangzeb was a religiously-minded leader who strove hard to ensure an Islamic character permeated through all his actions as leader. This did not however mean religious intolerance as he followed guidelines for protection of non-Muslims that is mandated by Islamic law.

Footnotes:

Eaton, Richard. “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States.” Frontline. (2001): n. page. Print. <http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf>.

Bibliography:

Hodgson, M. G. S. The Venture of Islam, Conscience and History in a World Civilization. 3. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Holt, P.M., Ann Lambton, and Bernard Lewis. The Cambridge History of Islam. 2A. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Print.

Eaton, Richard. “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States.” Frontline. (2001): n. page. Print. <http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf>.

Ikram, S.M. Muslim Civilization in India . New York City: Columbia University Press, 1964. Web.

Imam al-Shafi’i – the Father of Usul al-Fiqh

In the study of fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, different schools have developed over time. These schools were founded by the greatest legal minds in Islamic history, and expanded upon by their successors in their schools. Each one of these imams added a unique and new dimension to the understanding of Islamic law.

For the third of the four great imams, Imam Muhammad al-Shafi’i, his great contribution was the codifying and organization of a concept known as usul al-fiqh – the principles behind the study of fiqh. During his illustrious career, he learned under some of the greatest scholars of his time, and expanded on their ideas, while still holding close to the Quran and Sunnah as the main sources of Islamic laws. Today, his madhab (school of thought), is the second most popular on earth, after the madhab of Imam Abu Hanifa.

Early Life

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i was born in 767 (the year of Imam Abu Hanifa’s death) in Gaza, Palestine. His father died when he was very young, and thus his mother decided to move to Makkah, where many members of her family (who were originally from Yemen) were settled. Despite being in a very bad economic situation, his mother insisted that he embark on a path towards scholarship, especially considering the fact that he was from the family of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Thus, as a young man, he was trained in Arabic grammar, literature, and history. Because of his family’s financial situation, his mother could not afford proper writing materials for the young al-Shafi’i. He was thus forced to take notes in his classes on old animal bones. Despite this, he managed to memorize the Quran at the age of seven. Afterwards, he began to immerse himself in the study of fiqh, and memorized the most popular book of fiqh at the time, Imam Malik’s Muwatta, which he memorized by age ten.

Studies Under Imam Malik

At the age of thirteen, he was urged by the governor of Makkah to travel to Madinah and study under Imam Malik himself. Imam Malik was very impressed with the intelligence and analytical mind of the young al-Shafi’i, and provided him with financial assistance to ensure that he remains in the study of fiqh.

In Madinah, al-Shafi’i was completely immersed in the academic environment of the time. In addition to Imam Malik, he studied under Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani, one of Imam Abu Hanifa’s foremost students. This familiarized al-Shafi’i with differing viewpoints on the study of fiqh, and he greatly benefited from the exposure to various approaches to fiqh. When Imam Malik died in 795, Imam Shafi’i was known to be one of the world’s most knowledgeable scholars, even though he was in his 20s.

His Travels

Not long after Malik’s death, Imam Shafi’i was invited to Yemen to work as a judge for the Abbasid governor. His stay there would not last long however. The problem was that as an academic, Imam Shafi’i was not ready for the politically-charged environment he found himself in. Because he insisted on being uncompromisingly fair and honest, numerous factions within the government made it their aim to remove him from his post.

A map of the distribution of madhab’s worldwide today. The Shafi’i madhab is in blue.

In 803, he was arrested and carried in chains to Baghdad, the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate, on trumped-up charges of supporting Shia rebels in Yemen. When he met with the caliph of the time, Harun al-Rashid, Imam Shafi’i gave an impassioned and eloquent defense, which greatly impressed the caliph. Imam Shafi’i was not just released, but Harun al-Rashid even insisted that Imam Shafi’i stay in Baghdad and help spread Islamic knowledge in the region. Al-Shafi’i agreed and smartly decided to stay away from politics for the remainder of his life.

While in Iraq, he took the opportunity to learn more about the Hanafi madhab. He was reunited with his old teacher, Muhammad al-Shaybani, under whom he mastered the intricate details of the madhab. Although he never met Imam Abu Hanifa, he had great respect for the originator of the study of fiqh, and his school of thought.

Throughout his 30s and 40s, Imam al-Shafi’i traveled throughout Syria and the Arabian Peninsula, giving lectures and compiling a large group of students that studied under him. Among them was Imam Ahmad, the originator of the fourth school of fiqh, the Hanbali madhab. Eventually, he finally went back to Baghdad, but found out that the new caliph, al-Ma’mun, held some very unorthodox beliefs about Islam, and was known to persecute those who disagreed with him. As a result, in 814, Imam Shafi’i made his final move, this time to Egypt, where he was able to polish off his legal opinions and finally organize the study of usul al-fiqh.

Al-Risala

During the 700s and the early part of the 800s, there were two competing philosophies about how Islamic law should be derived. One philosophy was promoted by ahl al-hadith, meaning “the people of Hadith”. They insisted on absolute reliance on the literal interpretation of Hadith and the impermissibility of using reason as a means to derive Islamic law. The other group was known as ahl al-ra’i, meaning “the people of reason”. They also believed in using Hadith of course, but they also accepted reason as a major source of law. The Hanafi and Maliki schools of fiqh were mostly considered to have been ahl al-ra’i at this time.

Al-Risala of Imam Shafi’i

Having studied both schools of fiqh, as well as having a vast knowledge of authentic hadith, Imam al-Shafi’i sought to reconcile the two philosophies and introduce a clear methodology for fiqh – known as usul al-fiqh. His efforts towards this end resulted in his seminal work, Al-Risala.

Al-Risala was not meant to be a book that discussed particular legal issues and al-Shafi’i’s opinion on them. Nor was it meant to be a book of rules and Islamic law. Instead, it was meant to provide a reasonable and rational way to derive Islamic law. In it, Imam al-Shafi’i outlines four main sources from which Islamic law can be derived:

1. The Quran

2. The Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad

3. Consensus among the Muslim community

4. Analogical deduction, known as Qiyas

For each one of these sources (as well a several more sources that he deems not as important), he goes in depth in his Risala, explaining how they are to be interpreted and reconciled with each other. The framework he provides for Islamic law became the main philosophy of fiqh that was accepted by all subsequent scholars of Islamic law. Even the Hanafi and Maliki schools were adapted to work within the framework that al-Shafi’i provided.

The contributions of Imam al-Shafi’i in the field of usul al-fiqh were monumental. His ideas prevented the fraying of the study of fiqh into hundreds of different, competing schools by providing a general philosophy that should be adhered to. But it also provided enough flexibility for there to still be different interpretations, and thus madhabs. Although he probably did not intend it, his followers codified his legal opinions (which were laid out in another book, Kitab al-Umm) after his death in 820, into the Shafi’i madhab. Today, the Shafi’i madhab is the second largest madhab after the Hanafi madhab, and is very popular in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, East Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Language of Imam Shafi’i

Besides being a giant of a scholar in the field of fiqh, Imam Shafi’i was noted for his eloquence and his knowledge of the Arabic language. During his travels, Bedouins, who were known to be the best-versed in the Arabic language, would attend his lectures not to gain knowledge of fiqh, but just to marvel as his use of language and his mastery of poetry. One of his companions, Ibn Hisham, noted that “I never heard him [Imam Shafi'i] use anything other than a word which, carefully considered, one would not find a better word in the entire Arabic language.”

Bibliography:

Haddad, Gibril. The Four Imams and their Schools. Muslim Academic Trust, Print.

Khadduri, Majid. Al-Shafi’i’s Risala. 2nd ed. Islamic Texts Society, Web. <http://ia600809.us.archive.org/2/items/Al-shafiisRisala/Shaafi-Risaala-fi-Usul-al-Fiqh.pdf>.

Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print.

Imam Malik – The Scholar of Madinah

The collection and codification of Islamic law has historically been one of the most important, and challenging, tasks that the Muslim community has undertaken in 1400 years of history. To be considered a faqih (an expert in Islamic law – fiqh), one must have mastery of the Quran, the sayings of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, other sources of law, as well as other subjects such as grammar and history.

One of the giants of Islamic law was the 8th century scholar of Madinah, Malik ibn Anas. At a time when the Muslim community desperately needed the sciences of fiqh and hadith (sayings and doings of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) to be organized, Imam Malik rose to the occasion. His legacy is manifest in his continued influence throughout the Muslim world, both through his own works and the works of those he helped guide on a path of scholarship and devotion to Islam.

Early Life and Education

Imam Malik was born in 711 in the city of Madinah, 79 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in that same city. His family was originally from Yemen, but his grandfather had moved to Madinah during the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Both his father and grandfather had studied religious sciences under the Companions of the Prophet who still lived in Madinah, and thus young Malik was raised in an environment that was based on Islamic scholarship, learning from his father and uncle.

Imam Malik’s uncle, Nafi’, was an eminent scholar in his own right, and narrated hadith from Aisha, Abu Hurairah, and Abdullah ibn Umar, all companions who are noted for their vast knowledge of hadith. Although the political center of the Muslim world shifted away from Madinah during the caliphate of Ali in the 650s, it remained the intellectual capital of Islam. In this capital of Islamic knowledge, Imam Malik mastered the sciences of hadith, tafsir (interpretation of the Quran), and fiqh.

The Scholar of Madinah

After an immense amount of study that extended into his 20s and 30s, Imam Malik became known as the most learned man in Madinah at his time. He became a teacher, attracting a huge number of students to lectures, which he held in the mosque of the Prophet ﷺ. He used to sit on the pulpit of the mosque with the Quran in one hand and a collection of hadith in the other and offer legal rulings and opinions based on those two sources.

Students flocked to his lectures from all corners of the Muslim world. Among his more notable students were Abu Yusuf, Muhammad al-Shaybani (they were Abu Hanifah’s two most important students as well), and Imam al-Shafi’i.

Imam Malik held his classes in the Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah

The most unique aspect of Imam Malik’s methodology in fiqh was his reliance on the practices of the people of Madinah as a source of law. In the study of fiqh, there are numerous sources that are used to derive laws. The first and second most important sources are always the Quran and Sunnah. After those two, however, the great scholars of fiqh differed on the next most important source of law. Imam Malik believed that the practices of the people of Madinah should be seen as an important source.

His reasoning for this was that Madinah at that time was not far removed from the Madinah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. It had been spared the political and social upheaval that much of the rest of the Muslim world dealt with. And the people living in the city had been taught Islam by their ancestors who had been Companions of the Prophet ﷺ or students of the Companions. He thus reasoned that if all of the people of Madinah practiced a particular action and it did not contradict the Quran and Sunnah, then it can be taken as a source of law. He is unique among the four great imams of fiqh in this opinion.

In order to ease the study of fiqh and hadith, Imam Malik compiled a book known as the al-Muwatta. This was the first book that attempted to compile only sound and reliable sayings of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ into one book. Imam Malik said that he showed his book to seventy scholars in Madinah, who all approved it, thus he gave it the name al-Muwatta, meaning “The Approved”.

Al-Muwatta was a landmark book. It helped establish the science of hadith, particularly the judging of chains of narrations for hadith. Imam Malik was so thorough in his selection of hadith that it has been placed on the same level (and sometimes above) the hadith compilations of Imams Bukhari and Muslim. Imam Shafi’i even stated that there is no book on earth, after the Quran, that is more authentic than the Muwatta.

Imam Malik’s work was so influential as a book of fiqh that the caliph of the time, Harun al-Rashid, demanded that it be mass-printed and made the official book of fiqh for the Abbasid Empire. Imam Malik, however, refused. He knew that no one interpretation of Islamic law was perfect and all-encompassing. As such, he refused to allow his fiqh to become official, even under threat of persecution and imprisonment.

Imam Malik’s Character

Besides being one of the greatest scholars of fiqh in history, Imam Malik was an incredibly humble and meticulous Muslim. Out of respect for the Prophet ﷺ and his words, he would refuse to narrate a hadith while walking. Instead, when asked about a hadith, he would stop, sit down, and give the hadith the attention it deserved, out of respect for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He would also refuse to ride any animal in the city of Madinah, seeing it as unfathomable that he would ride on the same dust that Muhammad ﷺ’s feet walked on. This type of extra respect and meticulousness out of respect for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ certainly is not mandatory according to Islamic law, but simply a sign of the emphasis Imam Malik placed on the importance of Muhammad ﷺ.

Imam Malik’s seminal work, al-Muwatta

Among Imam Malik’s sayings are:

“The Sunnah is the ark of Nuh. Whoever boards it is saved, and whoever remains away perishes.”

“Knowledge does not consist in narrating much. Knowledge is but a light which Allah places in the heart.”

“None renounces the world and guards himself without then ending up speaking wisdom.”

When Imam Malik embarked on the study of Islamic sciences with a teacher, his mother advised him to “learn from your teacher his manners before you learn from him his knowledge.”

Imam Malik’s ideology on fiqh developed into the Maliki madhab (school). As Imam Malik wished, it was not imposed on Muslims as the sole school of Islamic law. Instead, it complemented the other three schools that took precedence in the Sunni Muslim world – the Hanafi, Shafi’i, and Hanbali schools. The Maliki school became very popular in North and West Africa, as well as Muslim Spain. Today it remains the main madhab of North and West Africa.

Imam Malik died at the age of 85 in the year 795. He was buried in the Baqee’ Cemetary in Madinah.

Bibliography:

Haddad, Gibril. The Four Imams and their Schools. Muslim Academic Trust, Print.

Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print.

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Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal – The Champion of Islamic Belief

So far in our four part series on the four great imams of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), we have seen each one of the imams have a special and enduring role in Islamic history. Imam Abu Hanifa was the trailblazer when it came to codifying fiqh and establishing the basics of how it is to be studied. Imam Malik upheld the importance of hadith in the field of fiqh through his landmark collection of hadith, al-Muwatta. And Imam al-Shafi’i revolutionized the study of fiqh by establishing the field of usul al-fiqh, the principles behind the study of fiqh.

For the last of the four great imams, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his contribution went beyond just fiqh. Although he was one of the greatest jurists and scholars of hadith of his time, perhaps his greatest legacy was his courage to stand for the orthodox beliefs of Islam as they were imparted to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the face of persecution and imprisonment at the hands of the political authority. For this reason, Imam Ahmad’s legacy is far more than just the establishment of the Hanbali madhab, but also includes the preservation of core Islamic beliefs against political oppression.

Early Life

Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani was born in 778 in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. The relatively new city was fast becoming a center of scholarship of all forms. So as a child, Ahmad had numerous opportunities to learn and expand his intellectual horizons. Thus, by the time he was 10 years old, he had memorized the entire Quran and began studying the traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the hadith.

Imam Ahmad traveled throughout the Arabian Peninsula in search of knowledge

Like Imam Shafi’i, Imam Ahmad lost his father at a very young age. So in addition to spending his time studying fiqh and hadith under some of Baghdad’s greatest scholars, he also worked in a post office to help support his family. He was thus able to afford studying under one of Imam Abu Hanifa’s foremost students, Abu Yusuf. From Abu Yusuf, the young Ahmad learned the basics of fiqh such asijtihad (intellectual decision making), andqiyas (analogical deduction). 

After becoming proficient in the Hanafi Madhab, Ahmad ibn Hanbal began to study Hadith under some of the greatest Hadith scholars of Baghdad, including Haitham ibn Bishr. He was so eager to expand his knowledge of the sayings and doings of the Prophet ﷺ that he would regularly be waiting after fajr outside of the homes of his teachers, ready to start that day’s lesson. After studying in Baghdad, he went on to study in Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, and Syria. During this time, he even met Imam al-Shafi’i in Makkah. Al-Shafi’i helped the young Ahmad move beyond just memorization of hadith and fiqh, and be able to instead also understand the principles behind them. This collaboration between two of the four great imams clearly shows that the schools of Islamic law are not opposed to each other, but rather work hand in hand. In fact, when Imam al-Shafi’i left Baghdad, he was recorded as having said, “I am leaving Baghdad when there is none more pious, nor a greater jurist than Ahmad ibn Hanbal.”

Ahmad ibn Hanbal the Scholar

After studying with Imam al-Shafi’i, Imam Ahmad was able to begin to formulate his own legal opinions in fiqh. When Imam Ahmad was 40 years of age in the year 820, his mentor Imam al-Shafi’i passed away. At this point, Imam Ahmad began to teach hadith and fiqh to the people of Baghdad. Students would flock to his lectures, and he especially took care of the poorer ones, keeping in mind his own humble origins.

Despite being in the capital of the Muslim world, Baghdad, Imam Ahmad refused to be attracted to a life of luxury and wealth. He continued to live on very humble means, and rejected the numerous gifts that people would offer him, instead choosing to live on whatever small amounts of money he had. He especially insisted on not accepting gifts from political figures, ensuring his independence from the political authority which could affect his teachings.

The Mihna

Imam Ahmad was in Baghdad during the time of the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun, who reigned from 813-833. Although al-Ma’mun was vital to the establishment of Baghdad as an intellectual center, he was heavily influenced by a group known as the Mu’tazila. Mu’tazili philosophy championed the role of rationalism in all aspects of life, including theology. Thus, instead of relying on the Quran and Sunnah to understand God, they relied on philosophical techniques first developed by the Ancient Greeks. Chief among their beliefs was that the Quran was a created book, as opposed to the un-created literal word of Allah.

Al-Ma’mun believed in the Mu’tazili line of thought, and sought to impose this new and dangerous belief system on everyone in his empire – including the scholars. While many scholars pretended to subscribe to Mu’tazili ideas in order to avoid persecution, Imam Ahmad refused to compromise his beliefs.

Legal writings based on the Hanbali Madhab written by Abu Dawud in the late 800s.

Al-Ma’mun instituted an inquisition known as the Mihna. Any scholars who refused to accept Mu’tazili ideas was severely persecuted and punished. Imam Ahmad, as the most famous scholar of Baghdad, was brought before al-Ma’mun and ordered to abandon his traditional Islamic beliefs about theology. When he refused, he was tortured and imprisoned. His treatment at the hands of the political authority was extremely severe. People who witnessed the torture commented that even an elephant could not have handled the treatment that Imam Ahmad was subject to.

Despite all of this, Imam Ahmad held to traditional Islamic beliefs, and thus served as an inspiration for Muslims throughout the empire. His trials set the precedent that Muslims do not give up their beliefs regardless what the political authority imposes on them. In the end, Imam Ahmad outlived al-Ma’mun and his successors until the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ascended in 847 and ended the Mihna. Imam Ahmad was again free to teach the people of Baghdad and write. During this time, he wrote his famous Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a collection of hadith that served as the basis of his school of legal thought, the Hanbali Madhab.

Imam Ahmad passed away in Baghdad in 855. His legacy was not restricted to the school of fiqh that he founded, nor the huge amount of hadith he compiled. Unlike the other three imams, he had a vital role in preserving the sanctity of Islamic beliefs in the face of intense political persecution. Although the Hanbali Madhab has historically been the smallest of the four, numerous great Muslim scholars throughout history were greatly influenced by Imam Ahmad and his thoughts, including Abdul Qadir al-Gilani, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Kathir, and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

Bibliography:

Haddad, Gibril. The Four Imams and their Schools. Muslim Academic Trust, Print.

Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print.

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The Life of Imam Abu Hanifa

The understanding of the laws and code of conduct of Islam is something that has constantly been evolving throughout Islamic history. The first generations of Muslims after the Prophet ﷺ had a much easier time understanding what is expected out of them as Muslims because they had access to the Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. As history progressed, however, a need arose to codify Islamic laws into organized and easy to access law codes.

The first person who undertook this monumental task was the great scholar Imam Abu Hanifa. Through his efforts, the first school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), the Hanafi school, developed. Today, the Hanafi school is the largest and most influential among the four schools (madhabs) of fiqh.

Early Life and Education

Abu Hanifa’s given name was Nu’man ibn Thabit. He was born in 699 in the Iraqi city of Kufa, to a family of Persian origin. His father, Thabit, was a successful businessman in Kufa and thus the young Abu Hanifa intended to follow in his father’s footsteps. Living under the oppressive reign of the governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Abu Hanifa stayed focused on running the family silk-making business and generally steered clear of scholarship. With the death of al-Hajjaj in 713 came the removal of oppressive policies regarding scholars, and Islamic scholarship soared in Kufa, especially during the reign of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (717-720).

Thus, by his teenage years, Abu Hanifa began to study under some of the resident scholars of Kufa. He even got the opportunity to meet between eight and ten companions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, among them Anas ibn Malik, Sahl ibn Sa’d, and Jabir ibn Abdullah. After learning from some of the greatest scholars of Kufa, he went on to study in Makkah and Madinah under numerous teachers, namely Ata ibn Abu Rabah, who was known as one of the greatest scholars of Makkah at the time.

He soon became an expert in the sciences of fiqh (jurisprudence), tafsir (exegesis of the Quran), and kalam (seeking theological knowledge through debate and reason). In fact, the concept of using debate and logic became a cornerstone of his methodology for seeking Islamic laws.

His School of Fiqh

The Imam Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad

Imam Abu Hanifa was a firm believer that a code of laws cannot stay static for too long, at the risk of no longer meeting the needs of the people. Thus he advocated interpreting the sources of Islamic law (usul al-fiqh) in response to the needs of the people at the time. This dynamic form of legalism did not supersede the Quran and Sunnah (sayings and doings of the Prophet ﷺ), of course. Instead, he promoted the use of the Quran and Sunnah to derive laws that addressed the issues that people dealt with at that time.

A major aspect of his methodology was the use of debate to derive rulings. He would commonly pose a legal issue to a group of about 40 of his students, and challenge them to come up with a ruling based on the Quran and Sunnah. Students would at first attempt to find the solution in the Quran, if it was not clearly answered in the Quran, they would turn to the Sunnah, and if it was not there, they would use reason to find a logical solution.

Abu Hanifa based this methodology on the example when Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal to Yemen and asked him how he will resolve issues using Islamic law. Mu’adh responded that he would look into the Quran, then the Sunnah, and if he does not find a direct solution there, he would use his best judgement, an answer that Muhammad ﷺ was pleased with.

Using such a process for codifying fiqh, the Hanafi madhab (school of law) was thus founded, based on the rulings of Imam Abu Hanifa, and his prominent students, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad al-Shaybani, and Zuffar.

His Legacy

A map of the distribution of madhab’s worldwide today. The Hanafi madhab is in light green.

Numerous times throughout his later life, Abu Hanifa was offered a position as a chief judge in the city of Kufa. He consistently refused such appointments and thus found himself regularly imprisoned by both the Umayyad and later, the Abbasid authorities. He died in the year 767 while in prison.

A masjid was built in his honor in Baghdad years later, and was renovated in the Ottoman period by the monumental architect Mimar Sinan.

His school of law became very popular in the Muslim world not long after his death. As the official madhab of the Abbasid, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires, his school became very influential throughout the Muslim world. Today, it is very popular in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, the Balkans, Egypt, and the Indian Subcontinent.

Bibliography:

Khan, Muhammad. The Muslim 100. Leicestershire, United Kingdom: Kube Publishing Ltd, 2008. Print.

Sabiq, A. Fiqh us-sunnah at tahara and as-salah. 1. Indiana: American Trust Publications, 1991. Print.

Al-Zahrawi – The Pioneer of Modern Surgery

It has often been stated on this website that the Muslim period of Spain’s history (also known as al-Andalus) was a Golden Age of Islamic civilization and society. Harmony between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism prevailed, great advancements were made in the sciences, and wealth and stability were the rule rather than the exception.

One of the great figures of Muslim Spain was Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, Islam’s greatest medieval surgeon. He revolutionized how surgery was performed by inventing new methods and tools to help heal patients. His thirty-volume encyclopedia of medicine was used as a standard text for medicine throughout Europe for centuries. The impact he had on how medicine was practiced was truly revolutionary.

Background

Al-Zahrawi lived during most powerful period of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba. He was born in 936 and died in 1013, and served the Umayyad Caliph al-Hakam II and the military ruler, al-Mansur. Throughout his life, al-Zahrawi was a court physician, having been patronized by the rulers of al-Andalus and recognized for his medical genius. He served in such a capacity as a doctor for over 50 years.

Unlike many doctors and hospitals in the “modern” world today, al-Zahrawi insisted on seeing patients regardless of their financial status. By seeing a wide variety of patients every day and recording his treatment of them, he left behind a very valuable text of medical knowledge that he called al-Tasrif.

Al-Tasrif

A page from the original al-Tasrif written by al-Zahrawi in the 900s

His encyclopedia of medicine is divided into 30 volumes. Each one of which dealt with a different aspect of medicine. He discussed how to diagnose diseases in one of the early volumes. He noted that a good doctor should always rely on his own observation of the patient and his/her symptoms instead of simply accepting what the patient says – a practice still employed by doctors today.

Al-Zahrawi takes a holistic approach to medicine. Not only does he discuss how to treat diseases, he describes how to prevent them. He dedicates parts of his books to discussing what foods should be avoided, how to maintain a healthy diet, and how to use food as part of a treatment plan. He particularly notes the effects of alcohol on the body. He states:

“[Alcohol causes] general weakness of most of the nerves of the body, difficulties in articulation, weakness of voluntary movements, arthralgias, gout, etc.. disturbances of the liver which causes tumors and obstructions which is a definite cause of ascites and general ill health”1

Surgery

His most influential volume of al-Tasrif is the 30th, the one dedicated to surgery. In it, he explains in detail how to perform certain surgeries to cure certain ailments. He insists in it that all surgeons must first be very well versed in general medicine, anatomy, and even the writings of philosophers who studied medicine.

Al-Zahrawi pioneered many of the procedures and materials still used in operating rooms today. He was the first to use catgut as the thread for internal stitches. Catgut is a thread made from the lining of the intestines of animals. It is the only material that can be used for stitches and still be absorbed by the body, preventing the need for a second surgery to remove internal stitches. He invented many tools necessary for modern surgery. He was the first to use foreceps in childbirth, greatly decreasing the mortality rate of babies and mothers. He performed tonsillectomies with the same tongue depressors, hooks, and scissors used today. He used concealed knifes to cut into patients without making them apprehensive  He used both local and oral anesthesia in order to reduce the pain patients experienced during surgery. He performed mastectomies  removing a woman’s breast if she had breast cancer, a procedure still done today. He described how to set bone fractures, amputate limbs, and even how to crush bladder stones. To describe all his “firsts” in medicine would take a book of its own.

An early inhaler invented by al-Zahrawi. At the top is the original Arabic while the Latin translation is at the bottom.

Despite his immense knowledge and ability, he always refused to do risky or unknown surgeries that would be stressful physically and emotionally for the patient. He believed in the importance of human life and sought to extend it as long as possible. His precedent was a prime example for effective bedside manner that all doctors should exhibit.

Legacy

Al-Tasrif made its way from al-Andalus throughout the Muslim and Christian worlds. Over the course of centuries, it was translated into Latin and other European languages. Thus, many of the procedures he pioneered were given names that do not indicate that he originated them. For example, the “Walcher position” of childbirth and the “Kocher method” for fixing dislocated shoulders were invented by al-Zahrawi but credited to later European physicians.

Regardless of credit, al-Zahrawi’s contributions to medicine and particularly surgery were revolutionary for his time. Without the procedures and tools that he pioneered, surgery today may still be a barbaric guessing game. His abilities and his consistent recording of procedures helped advance medicine for centuries, and we are still in debt to his genius.

Footnotes:

1 – Awadain, M. Reda. “A Recent Look and Study of Some Papers of al-Zahrawi’s Book “al-Tasrif”.” IslamSet. N.p.. Web. 16 Dec 2012.

Bibliography:

al-Hassani, Salim. 1001 Inventions: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Civilization. Washington D.C. : National Geographic Society, 2012. Print.

Awadain, M. Reda. “A Recent Look and Study of Some Papers of al-Zahrawi’s Book “al-Tasrif”.” IslamSet. N.p.. Web. 16 Dec 2012.

Morgan, M. (2007). Lost History. Washington D.C. : National Geographic Society.

Columbus Was (Not) The First To Cross The Atlantic

Columbus Was (Not) The First To Cross The Atlantic

The old poem that most American school children recognize begins “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” Indeed, in the year 1492, Christopher Columbus (whose real name in Italian was Cristoforo Colombo) sailed across the Atlantic in the name of the Spanish crown and landed in the Caribbean part of North America. For hundreds of years, it has simply been accepted that Columbus was the first explorer to valiantly sail across the sea and “discover” the Americas. However, this theory no longer stands up to modern scholarship.

It goes without saying that the first people to truly discover America were the ancestors of the Native Americans, who probably crossed into North America through Russia and Alaska about 12,000 years ago. Discussion of the “discovery” of the Americas by Europeans, Africans, or Asians is an insult to the history of it’s indigenous peoples. That said, the first daring souls to cross the Atlantic ocean by boat are important to know, and the theory of Columbus does no justice to their story.

While the common knowledge about Columbus is that he lived in a time where everyone assumed the world was flat, this is clearly not the case. Ancient Greek scholars such as Aristotle and Pythagoras suggested that the earth was in fact, round. It was during the Muslim Golden Ages (c. 750-1100s) that advanced scholarship into the shape and size of the earth began. Contrary to what most people may believe, in those years, it was common understanding that the earth was not flat. The debate, instead, was about exactly how large the earth was. In the early 800s, the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun assembled the brightest minds of the day (including al-Khawarizmi) in Baghdad who calculated the earth’s circumference and were off by only 4% of it’s actual size.

Knowing that the earth was round, and knowing its size to a very good degree of accuracy (without the modern technology we have today), some intrepid Muslims must have attempted to go around the world, hundreds of years before Columbus. The proof of these voyages is in front of us, in black and white.

Muslim Spain

Al-Masudi’s world map of 956, showing the “unknown land” across the Atlantic across from Africa

The great Muslim historian and geographer, Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi wrote in 956 of a voyage in 889 from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). The voyage sailed for months westward. They eventually found a large landmass across the ocean where they traded with the natives, and then returned to Europe. Al-Masudi records this land across the ocean in his famous map and refers to it as “the unknown land”.

Two more voyages from Muslim Spain to the Americas are recorded in history. One was in 999 and was led by Ibn Farrukh, from Granada. The other is recorded by the genius mind of the geographer al-Idrisi, who worked in the multi-cultural and religiously tolerant Sicily of King Roger II in the 1100s. He wrote of a group of Muslims who sailed west from Lisbon for 31 days and landed on an island in the Caribbean. They were taken prisoner by the Native Americans on that island for a few days. Eventually, they were freed when a translator who lived among the natives that spoke Arabic arranged for their release. They eventually sailed back to al-Andalus and told their tale. The important part of this account is the existence of an Arabic speaker among the natives, indicating that there must have been more unrecorded contact between the Arab world and the Americas.

West Africa

There is another part of the Muslim world that had contact with the Americas before Columbus. In West Africa in the 1300s, a powerful and incredibly wealthy empire called Mali existed. The most famous leader of this empire was Mansa (king) Musa. The most memorable event of his reign was his epic hajj journey in 1324. The caravan of over 60,000 people made an impression everywhere they went, including Egypt, where Mansa Musa told the story of how he came to power. His brother, Abu Bakr was the Mansa before he was. During his reign, Abu Bakr sent a fleet of 400 ships to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Only 1 ship returned, but reported that they found a land across the ocean. Mansa Abu Bakr then outfitted a fleet of 2000 ships, which he sailed with personally, that sailed west into the ocean. They were never heard from again.

While there is no record in Mali of the result of that voyage, there is evidence of their arrival in the Americas. There are numerous archaeological sites in North and South America that attest to that Malian presence. Early Spanish explorers and pirates recorded abandoned cities in Brazil that had inscriptions identical to the language of the Mandinka (the people of Mali). More inscriptions in the Mandinka language were found in the United States as well. Near the Mississippi River, many inscriptions exist that recorded their exploration of the Americas. In Arizona, an inscription was found that reads “The elephants are sick and angry. At present there are many sick elephants”. This inscription also includes a rough sketch of an elephant. Elephants are not native to the Americas. They were brought by the Mandinka to the Americas, and the inscriptions are proof of Mansa Abu Bakr’s successful journey over 100 years before Columbus.

The Ottoman Empire

In 1929, an amazing discovery was made in Istanbul, Turkey. A map drawn in the year 1513 by the Ottoman cartographer, Piri Reis was found. Reis wrote that his map was based on earlier sources, including ancient Greek and Arabic maps, including maps by Christopher Columbus, who had sailed only 21 years earlier. What is remarkable about this map is the level of detail of the map, which forced historians to re-evaluate the Columbus theory of exploration.

The Piri Reis map of 1513

The map clearly shows the eastern coast of South America, which is in the correct position with regards to Africa. The coast of Brazil is shown in incredible detail, with many rivers accurately placed on the map. Although Reis used Columbus’s maps as a source, Columbus never went to South America, so Reis must have gotten that from earlier Muslim maps that he used as sources. Furthermore, Reis’s map includes the Andes Mountains, which were not even explored by Europeans until the 1520s, a full decade after the drawing of Reis’s map!

Piri Reis based his map on earlier sources, which clearly had a very good understanding of the Americas and had explored the area well before the first Europeans. The map is perhaps the strongest physical evidence of Muslim exploration of the Americas before Columbus

What Did Columbus Say?

With all of this evidence of Muslim exploration before Columbus’s voyage in 1492, is it possible that Columbus himself knew he was not the first? It’s more than likely to be the case. Columbus sailed from Spain in the same year the last Muslim dynasty of Iberia was destroyed in the Reconquista. Many of the people of Iberia were still Muslims, and carried with them the knowledge of the Muslim Golden Ages. Numerous people on Columbus’s voyage were Moriscos, Muslims who were forced to convert to Catholicism or die. Columbus could have heard from Spain’s Muslims of the New World and was thus inspired to go exploring.

Once he got to the Americas, Columbus records numerous examples of Muslims already present. He commented on the gold that the natives had, which was made the same way, in the same alloy, as the Muslims of West Africa did. Furthermore, Columbus records that the native word in that area for gold isguanin, which is very similar to the Mandinka word for gold, ghanin, which probably comes from the Arabic word for wealth, ghina’. 

In 1498, Columbus recorded seeing a ship loaded with goods, heading towards America, filled with Africans who were probably on their way to trade with Native Americans. Columbus also records in his journal that Native Americans told him of black Africans who came regularly to trade with them.

Even Columbus knew that he was not the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Conclusions

Clearly, the theory that Columbus discovered America is nothing but an old tale that has not stood the test of time. There is no doubt that the Columbian Era was a pivotal time in world history that changed the way of life in the Americas and Europe forever. However, he was not the first to make the crossing to the Americas. Evidence exists from the Arabs, West Africans, and Ottomans of Muslim voyages to the Americas well before Columbus and Christian Europe. For whatever reason, the textbooks continue to extoll the voyage of Columbus and the courage of his crew, the “first” to make it across the Atlantic. This idea clearly needs to be re-examined in light of evidence from earlier Muslim explorations, to bring their contributions to the general public.

Sources:

Dirks , J. (2006). Muslims in American History . Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications.

Morgan, M. (2007). Lost History. Washington D.C. : National Geographic Society.

Quick, A. H. (2007). Deeper Roots. (3rd ed.). Cape Town: DPB Printers and Booksellers.