Early Islamic Empires, Normative Islamic Practices, and Ottoman Empire Decline - Assignment Example

?Running Head: History final in essays History final in essays Insert Insert Insert 09 December Three early modern Islamic empires The three early modern Islamic empires who ruled the world between the Mediterranean and the Bay of Bengal were the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire. They ruled from Asia, Persia, and India. For example, Ottoman Empire ruled in Asia Minor region while Safavid Empire ruled in Persia. On the other hand, Mughal Empire ruled in India. They came to be among the best Islamic empires due to the fact that they were formed because of Islamic expansion and state building projects, which covered the whole Islamic world, excerpt the West Africa and southern Asia. These empires are one of the most important empires because they provide a lot of information and important documents concerning the Islamic culture and beliefs (Bryce, 2013). To begin with, the Ottoman Empire was formed around the beginning of 14th century and was the first empire to be formed among these three empires. It covers areas such as the North Africa region, Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Iraq, and the Balkans region. It was founded by a sultan known as Sultan Selim in 1512 and its boundaries covers Atlantic Ocean region to the whole Persian Gulf (Dinc & Yetim, 2012). The empire went in first battle of the Lepanto at around 1571 and later went in a battle where it was defeated in 1683 in Vienna. In addition, the empire is remembered as one of the great Islamic empires that brought modernization in the late 19th century that. Although it failed to improve the economic, political, and social process in its regions, it was seen to provide bigger impact on the cultural Islamic historical life (Carnegie, 2013). The empire ruled until around 1600, where it reached its peak and later started to decline due to some internal lack of organization. Again, the decline was due to enemy pressure that was inflicted to the empire by the Europe and Asia enemies of the empire. Although the empire faced various challenges, it was it came to an end in 1918 after World War I. The empire is remembered as one of the great Islamic empires that gave rise to the present day country called Turkey. Again, the empire is also remembered as one of the empires that provided the link between the medieval revolution and the current Islamic historical information (Guidetti, 2013). The second great Islamic empire is known as the Safavid Empire that was founded in 1501 as a result of political changes in Persia. The empire is come from the name Safavid that was the name of Sufi order formed by the Sunnite mystic. Although Safi-ad-Din died in around 1334 the empire name was passed to Shiism at around 1400 hence the name the Shiite Safavid Empire. Ismail became the head of Safavid in 1487 and ruled up to 1501 where he declared himself the Shah of Iran and established a dynasty that united and brought together Iran people and ruled them up to late 1722. Iran became more influenced by the western culture in the early 19th century leading to modernization, which brought about the Islamic religion of today. Besides the empire although formed in 1501was one of the great Islamic empires that was originated as a result of religious sect and acquired most of political as well as military characteristic. This empire was officially the empire of Shiite and some of the religious diversity he has led to conflict between it and the Sunni neighbors. Besides this is one the empires that ruled within the shortest time and was greatly affected by the invaders such as the Afghans which attacked them in around 1722. The empire is greatly remembered for its nationalism and it led to the formation of the present day Iran country (Behbudi, 2013). The third empire is the Mughal Empire that was based in India and was founded in 1526 (Garcia-Rivero, 2013). The empire faced many challenges and was affected British empires. In addition, the empire gained from the succession of strong rulers that gave him the Hindu population leading to its larger spread in India. Besides, the empire collapsed in late 19th century due to expansion of the British empires in India. Again, someone called Babur in early 1526 founded the empire and it achieved it great expansion in the late 1700 under the rule of Akbar. It is greatly remembered for developing the Indian way of Islamic culture and beliefs (Sutherlin, 2012). 2. Ibn Khaldum and Ibn Battura contributions Ibn Khaldum is one of the famous and well-known sociologist, historian, and founder of philosophy and sociology. He contributed to various areas such as public finance, economic growth, theory of value and market equilibrium (Culcasi, 2010). Besides, he also came up with the natural wage system where he argues that the wage rate system should depend on expenditure and not on the prices. In addition, he introduced and came up with the idea known as the Walrasing law where he argues that prices go upwards with the increase of demand and decreases with the decrease of supply. His contribution on public finance is that he first discovered the idea of sales and import taxes as indications of the end of the state. Again, he is the one who came up with the idea that the government involvement in the economy as he argues that a decrease in the government expenditure and expenses may lead to a decrease in the government revenues and interest hence can cause some recession in the economy. He also wrote several books of science sociology, philosophy of history and other social sciences books dealing with economy (Watts, 2012). Therefore, he largely contributed in the science economics and is known to discover the theory of value, market equilibrium, public finance, and growth theory. Despite all discoveries, most western scientists have not given him enough recognition and only show more interest on his Laffer curve 600 theories (Dal, 2012). 3. Normative Islamic practices Most of the sources of Islamic laws are based on Sunnis that require them to follow the normative rules. These were rules written by three Muhammad’s and they state that Muslims “must obey God and His messenger” (Aral, 2012). Sunnah contains the normative rules and practices dealing with Shariah according to Muhammad teachings. The Sunnah is the source of Islamic laws and defines their relationship with friends, family, and government. They believed that God is one and that the main aim of living is to give services to Allah (Ege & Nohra, 2013). Islamic also believed that god is supreme and their laws borrow a lot from Sunni. Again, Muhammad is valued and is believed as the last prophet that God gave them. They also believe that their religion is complete and follows a great deal of faith that God revealed to them in the world through His people such as Adam, Noah, and Moses; hence, they believe that these were God’s prophets sent to reveal His teachings to the His people in the world. They also follow their Islamic law that covers all the human aspect of life in the society including guidance, care for the environment, relationships and the general life. Again, they believed that Sunni and Shia are some of the sources of their laws (Ege & Nohra, 2013). Muslims also believe in Quaran as one of the teachings provided by their prophet Muhammad who was sent by God to teach them. They mostly follow practices that mould their life according to the will of God (Bosker, Buringh, & van Zanden, 2013). 4. Ottoman Empire Decline According to Ibn Khaldun, Ottoman Empire is one of the historical dynasties that role to prominence and then reached maturity, followed by decline to oblivion. Under the influence of the Turkish sultans, the empire became so powerful that it controlled major areas of Asia, Europe, North Africa, and Arabian Peninsula. However, from the years 1500s through 1800s, the Ottoman Empire started to decline due to several factors, including weak government and economic policies. One of the central and main internal challenges that led to the decline of Ottoman Empire is the death of sultan Suleiman, which in effect led to ineffective government in subsequent era. This is one of the internal challenges, since, after his death, the remaining Sultans’ rule was full of corruption. The governance of the empire was weakened by ineffective succession procedures that led to civil confrontations among the sons of the preceding sultan. This act led to change of policy by Sultan Ahmed during his reign in the 1600s where he held up the departed sultan’s sons in the palace until they were ripe to be made sultans, a procedure that made them docile and incompetent in matters related to leadership. Therefore, the leadership of subsequent sultans was hampered with incompetence and ignorance, a situation that led to autonomy of local governments, which eventually managed to control local resources, leaving the central government weakened and powerless in terms of resources. Another internal challenge was the weakening of the economy following its maturity age. The size of the empire was too big, hence making it difficult to economically control all the land of the empire. Indeed, further expansion of the empire would be futile and uneconomical, especially considering that resources were also limited. Moreover, inflation set in during the 1600s, which disadvantaged the empire against other empires. Another problem is the Janissaries who demanded more pay despite being very lazy (Kuran, 2012). On the other hand, the external problem that occurred was the Portuguese circumnavigation to Asia (Middle East, 2013). Lastly, the Spanish empire also brought external challenges by bringing gold and silver to Europe. There were also political wars and economic challenges that did not work in favor of the Ottoman Empire (Bosker, Buringh, & van Zanden, 2013). References Kuran, T. (2012). The Economic Roots of Political Underdevelopment in the Middle East: A Historical Perspective. Southern Economic Journal, 78(4), 1086-1095. Aral, B. (2012). An Inquiry into the 'Effective' United Nations Security Council Resolutions Relating to the Middle East within the Past Decade. Muslim World, 102(2), 225-247 Behbudi, B. (2013). The prospects for Iran within a united Middle East. Middle East, 4(43), 24-26. Bosker, M., Buringh, E., & van Zanden, J. (2013). 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Explaining the Arab revolution within the context of globalization in the Middle East: From an identity-centered reaction to a positive involvement. Marmara University Journal of Economic & Administrative Sciences, 34(1), 353-384. Garcia-Rivero, C. (2013). Democratisation, State and Society in the Middle East and North Africa. Comparative Sociology, 12(4), 477-504. Guidetti, M. (2013). The contiguity between churches and mosques in early Islamic Bilad al-Sham. Bulletin of The School of Oriental & African Studies, 76(2), 229-258. Kuran, T. (2012). The Economic Roots of Political Underdevelopment in the Middle East: A Historical Perspective. Southern Economic Journal, 78(4), 1086-1095. Middle East. (2013). Stratfor Forecasts, 2. Sutherlin, J. W. (2012). Middle East Turmoil and Human Rights: How will the 'New' Regimes Expand Civil Liberties. Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 11(1), 75-87. Watts, M. (2012). Middle East at the ballot. Middle East Economic Digest, 56(20), 22-23. Read More