The Venture of Islam, Volume 1

The Construction of the Umma: From Global Consciousness to an Aspirational Global Society

“…He also adopted the hijri calendar based on the year when Muḥammad performed his hijra, providing the umma with a common chronological framework. 43 'Uthmān's reign (644-656) is often identified as the beginning of tribulations that plagued the umma. It is often argued that 'Uthmān favoured the Quraysh aristocracy above others, a contrasting policy to 'Umar's, which distributed favour according to a person's closeness to Muḥammad.…”

“…It was the codification and standardisation of the Qur'an. Despite controversies, 46 'Uthman's decision to standardise the Qur'an provided the Muslim society with an important symbol of unity, 47 earning the praise of Sunni scholars. Ibn Kathīr even considered the efforts as 'Uthman's greatest service to the umma, 48 providing the Muslim society with an important symbol of unity.…”

“…For the example, Mu'āwīya, while surrounded by controversies, 56 established a greater sense of communal integration and he ruled with general common interests as his priority. 57 He also developed the caliphate into a mature political institution, with features resembling a state such as standing army, solid bureaucracy and network of tax collectors. 58 Later Umayyad caliphs further this integration process.…”

III. ‘Al-Hind’ India and Indonesia in the Islamic World-Economy, c. 700–1800 A.D.

“…The Safawid state, in this way, held together on a Shi c ite basis for more than two centuries, until its balance was upset and Isfahan was occupied by the Afghans, then by the Turkish general Nadir Shah, who reverted to Sunnism but was assassinated in 1748, after which a Safawid restoration failed and political fragmentation occurred. 33 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Safawid state was sufficiently cohesive to deprive the Ottomans of direct access to India and the Indian Ocean. Here -but this was also due to the Portuguese presence -the Ottomans remained confined to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.…”

The Rise of Early Sufism: A Survey of Recent Scholarship on its Social Dimensions

“…Major figures associated with this community advocated greater devotion to God and the afterlife, and renunciation of worldly concerns. 17 More recently, Fred Donner and Thomas Sizgorich have tried to understand the early development of Islamic ideas of asceticism and sainthood against the background of the wider cultural world of Late Antiquity. 18 Early Muslim historiography would naturally see its early heroes as possessing similar characteristics to the saints of earlier communities.…”