History of Islam

This wikibook concerns about the history and development of thoughts, theology, and philosophy stemming from the Islamic faith throughout the centuries. For the political history of Islamic civilization, see History of Islamic Civilization.

The history of Islam begins in the 7th century AD. (Muslims believe that God sent messages on different time period, through different messengers, from Adam to Muhammad).

Table of Contents

1. Early Islam (Prophet Muhammad up to two succeeding generations)
   1. Prophet Muhammad and the revelation (Quran)
   2. Recollection of the prophetic tradition (Hadith/Sunnah)
   3. First schism: Sunnis, Shiites, and Khawarijs
2. The classical period (Umayyad and Abassid period)
   1. Influence of Greek and foreign philosophies
   2. Theology (Ilm al-Kalam), important theological questions, and school of thoughts: Khawarijs, Murjiites, Mutazilites, Asharites, Maturidites
   3. Islamic legalistic science (Ilm al-Fiqh), derivations of law, and major legal schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hambali
3. The Mutazilites-Asharites debate
   1. Basic tenets of Mutazilites teaching and its early endorsement by Abbasid Caliphs
   2. Reaction of the scholars and the development and basic tenets of the Asharites
   3. Ibn Rushd and Al-Ghazali
   4. Aftermath of debate and its influence outside the Islamic world
4. The medieval and pre-modern period (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, and European colonization periods)
   1. Taqlid and the decline of philosophy
   2. Separate development of Shiism during Safavid period
   3. The rise of puritanical schools of thought, historical backgrounds, and the early writers: Ibn Taimiya, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
   4. Developments outside the Middle East: India, Central Asia, Africa, and South East Asia
5. Modern period
   1. Early modern writers: Jamal-ad-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh
   2. Islamic reform movements (e.g. Muhammadiyah in Indonesia, Tablighi Jamaat in India), nationalist movements, and pan-Arab ideology
   3. The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin) and related movements, the subsequent rise of revolutionary Islamic activism, and important activists: Hasan al-Banna, Sayyed Qutb
   4. Modern Islamic philosophies: Ali Shariati, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ismail Al-Faruqi