Modern History of Muslim World,Nineteenth Century to the
Present
RLC, 6/4/08
Before the 19th
Century
Egypt
/ North Africa / Turkey
|
|
Iran ,
Central Asia, South Asia
|
Most of this region
dominated by Ottoman Turks since about 1500.
“…most Muslims view Islam
as a religion concerned about the welfare of poor people.
|
Baghdad and other
cities of Mesopotamia were centers of
Islamic civilization. Shia center in Karbala.
Ottomans take key site in Arabia
in 1871.
|
Continuous contact with
northern Eurasia and with South and West Asia.
A corridor between the population centers of Eurasia.
Several Islamic movements in India,
Barelvis take a prominent position among the Muslim
leadership.
|
19th
Century to World War I Diverse
populations in all these regions: Several kinds of Muslims; many kinds of
Christians; etc.
Egypt
/ Fertile Crescent/ Turkey
|
|
|
Ottomans Struggle to correct
losses in war
Modernization
British take Egypt
1882-1914
"Arab awakening"
Pan-Arab tradition forms
Sharif of Mecca
during WW I
NB:not sectarian, all kinds of Arabs:
|
1871: Rashidis
force Al Saud family into exile to Kuwait
1902:Ibn Saud
takes Riyath
1912:Saudis with help of Wahhabi Ikhwan take dominant
place in Arabia. Wahhabi
critique of Muslim society sought to purify the faith:anti-Sufi,
anti-Shi`a.
|
> Iran:a
profligate monarchy that bankrupts the country, bring in European financiers.
Struggle in Iran
in early 1900s over constitution. A parliament is formed, then
destroyed by the Shah, who is later force out.
Iran is destitute, brings in American,
Schuster, to manage the country, forced out in 1911 by Russians who distrust
him. They take prominent role in managing the military.
In 1909 the Anglo-Iranian
Oil company discovered oil. Part of concession to Wm Knox D’Arcy.
>India:
the mutiny of 1857:
Aligarh
School
Deobandi School
Afghanistan: first public school established
~1910, staffed by Aligarh
graduates
|
WW I:1914-1918
Ottomans join the Axis powers
>T. E. Lawrence and Arab
rebellion: Pan-Arabism
>Ottomans defeated
> Agreements:
Balfour Declaration for the Jews;
Promises to Sharif of Mecca:
Country for Palestinians
|
Sharif of Mecca
supports Allied powers
|
1917-18: Russian rebellion. Bolsheviks
finally take control, begin trying to extend their
control over Central Asian peoples.
Iran:Russian Cossacks train Iranian military.
|
1920s:
Mandates: French in Lebanon/Syria:
British over Jordan, Iraq
“King” , Palestine; dependencies are Egypt, Aden, Sudan; British impose the
sovereign over Egypt [Faisal a son of the Sharif of Mecca in Iraq [had been
removed from kinship of Syria by French], Other brothers in Transjordan
[Abdullah], the Hejaz [Ali].
Turkey: Ata Turk revolution. Abolishes sultanate,
caliphate, Secular state, Swiss constitution; New script
Palestine: Zionist infiltration, land purchases
Muslim Brethren form in Egypt [1928]
|
1924-25 Ibn
Saud takes the Hejaz through alliance
with the Ikhwan.
1928-30. But Ikhwan rebel against Ibn Saud:
want to expand Wahhabism. He seeks approval of the ulema, then crushes the Ikhwan.
|
Soviets fight Basmachis [“bandits”] between about 1919 and 1929.Remnants, and the Emir of Bukhara flee into northern Afghanistan.
Iran: Russians place a sergeant,
Reza Khan, at the headship of Iran.
In 1920s he calls himself “Shah” [Reza Shah].
|
1930s:
German fascist influence in Middle
East
Found the Baathist party [secular, fascist]
Phalange Party [Maronite Catholic] established 1936 modeled on fascist
organizations in Germany
Germans developing a
position in Subsaharan Africa
|
Arabia : Oil is found 1933.Production begins
in 1938 by Aramco.
|
Persia
renamed " Iran"
to please Hitler
BP comes in to manage Persian/Iranian
oil fields.
|
WW II:1939-1945
|
Germans vs
British/Americans in North Africa
|
During war, Iran
is carved into spheres, Russian [north], British [south], under Persian rule
[middle].Persians develop political parties, unions; free newspapers, growing
public sphere.
|
Afghanistan
is officially non-aligned but in fact had a secret deal with Germans.Germans also hoped to stir up insurrection on the
frontier of India,
to draw British troops away from other spheres to stabilize the frontier.
|
Post-WW II
1947:Israel
recognized by USA,
in face of Saudi/Arab opposition
PLO a Pan-Arab
organization
1948:Sayyed Qutb
goes to Greeley, CO,
is horrified by American high school ways, dances, etc.Returns
to write a critique of the West.Is radicalized,
later, under torture by Nasser becomes more radical and extreme; smuggles out
of prison a book condemning not only the West, but also all the Arab
leadership for failing to protect and enforce Islam.Executed
by Nasser in 1966.
|
1945:US urgently needs oil:
King of Saudi Ar. Needs security:secret
oil-for-security.US gets access to Saudi oil.Roosevelt
promises to avoid offending Arabs [re Israel]
|
1947:India
Partition:Pakistan
[East and West] is formed many thousands killed in the shifting of
populations. In Pakistan
the Jamaat-i Islami party
becomes active [secret, Leninist].
Struggle over Kashmir
1948:Pakistan
forms as a democratic but Islamic state, the nature of its commitment to
either one unclear.
Maududi, begins to form the Jamaat
Islami party
Jennah leads the formation of the state, dies soon;
replacement assassinated soon also.
|
1950s
Egypt
/ Middle East / Turkey
|
|
|
|
1952:Nasser:Overthrows
the monarch; links up with the Soviets; links Syria
and Egypt
1958:In Iraq
monarch is overthrown by a general; called a republic; leader, Gen Qasim, becomes PM
|
Brother of Sayyed Qutb
moves to Arabia to teach.
1958:Abu
Musab al-Suri, who would
become member of AlQaeda inner council, born in Syria.
|
1953:Iran:
coup against elected government [by CIA]1948 Shah’s Iran
becomes crucial defense [for the Americans] from Soviet ventures into the Middle
East
1954:Daud seeks American
aid, is refused by Nixon [VP].Daud gets aid from
Soviets; Americans then decide to give some aid: begins 1957-58]
|
1950s:France
fighting war in Algeria
1955:
Baghdad Pact: Turkey, Iran, Pakistan
cultivated by
US to protect against Soviet ventures into the Middle East: After loss of Iraq
[after the coup d’etat] it is called the Central
Treaty Organization.
|
1960s
1963:Arab Socialist Baath
Party overturns Qasim; Asif
becomes Pres.
1967:Arab-Israeli war.Arab states lose;
embarrassed;
1968:Another Baathist Hasan al-Bakr overtakes former Baathist
leaders
|
1967:anti-western riots in Saudi A after the war.
1964-75:Faisal begins economic improvements: oil revenues increase
1600%
|
1960s:Infrastructural development:roads,
air terminals, increased internal traffic and outside contact.
1964: A constitution is
ratified; election begin:Communist
Party announces; Young Muslims form in reaction.By
1968 severe conflicts in KabulUniversity
over political parties.
|
Growing numbers of Muslims coming to work in Europe, many
into Germany from Turkey
|
1970s
1970:Nasser
dies; Sadat takes his place, seeks legitimacy by courting Muslim Brethren.
1973:Egypt/Syria
attack Israel;
make initial gains but Israel
eventually gains more land than before.
1977: Anwar Sadat goes to Israel
to make peace; Arabs regard it as betrayal.
|
1973. US is
pressured by Saudis who shut off oil flows, creates problem for VietNam war; Pentagon threatens Saudis; embargo ends in
1974.
1975-79: billions of oil revenue pours into S.
Arabia:building spree
contracted to Bin Laden family.Begin to put
billions into expanding Wahhabi mosques all over
the world.
1975+:building
spree also brings huge numbers of laborers into Saudi
Arabia.Eventually
a third of the population is non-Saudi.
Saudi government uses
wealth to fund a large welfare program for unemployable religiously educated
Saudis.
|
1971 East
Pakistan splits from West Pakistan, becomes Bangladesh
By this time Pakistan
army has secured a powerful hold on the society, economy and politics.
Pakistan:
1973 Z Bhutto becomes PM of Pakistan;
new constitution into effect
1974 attack on critic of Bhutto [by supporters of Bhutto
1977 Bhutto loses power; army steps in. March elections PPP
wins, riots. Zia appoints himself chief and establishes Martial Law;
1978 Zia makes himself President; 1979 hangs Z Bhutto.1979 Zia estab. Islamic penal code.
1979 Nov. mob burns US Embassy
Iran: growing
dissent as the Shah squanders wealth in ostentatious conferences; SAVAK
becoming more abusive in controlling public; growing restiveness. But rest of
the world misses importance of public discontent
|
|
1978- 1979:
Fateful events
July 16, 79:[Baathist] Pres Al-Bakr [Iraq]
replaced by VP:Saddam Hussein
|
Nov, 79:In response to increased
foreign influences, an Islamist movement forms, leads to the seizure of the
Grand Mosque in fall, 1979 Ikhwanis, Wahhabi warriors take over the Grand Mosque, call for a
return to pure Islam, accuse Saudi family of corruption and Western; Khomeni originally accuses Israel and the USA; riots
in Middle East, rioters in Pakistan burn down the American Embassy.Saudis
begin to cede more power to Wahhabis.
Siege of Mecca
|
1978-79 Iranian Revolution against Shah: Khomeini
arrives in Tehran,
met by 1 m people, Feb 1.
Summer, university students take over American Embassy, takehostages, approved by Khomeini.
1978, April: Khalqi coup in Kabul;
gradual rise in resistance until March, 1978, when troops revolt in Heart;
others flee the military.
Dec 25, 79:Soviets
invade Afghanistan: Americans and Saudis support resistance
through Pakistan’s
ISI.
|
|
1980s:
Oct 6, 1981: Anwar Sadat is assassinated while reviewing troops,
revenge for making peace with Israel. Egypt
responds by putting many Muslim Brethren in prison, torture them and
radicalize them:Ayman Zawahri.
1987:Sheikh
Yasin founds Hamas as an outreach vehicle of Muslim
Brethren and to support the Palestinian intifada.
|
1980-1988:Iraq
- Iran
war:Saddam attacks, uses chemical weapons
against Kurds; Khomeini agrees to ceasefire after Americans shoot down
Iranian civilian airplane.
1982:Hafez al Assad in
Syria attacks Muslim Brotherhood in Hama, kills 30,000 people and wipes Hama
off the map;Suri [Islamist theorist] is shocked
flees.
1981.Price of oil peaks,
then declines until by 1986 had come down to $8/barrel.Saudi
Arab is strapped for funds.Dissent among the
population b/c of loss of welfare.Unemployment rises.Between 1981 2001 per capita income declines from
$28,000/yr to $6,800/yr
|
1980 -89: Afghans fight Soviets; by invitation of Pakistan
and CIA many radical Arabs from around the world come and join the
"holy war" [altogether they will number 40,000 non-Afghans.Most
of them “were inspired less by extremist Islamic ideology than by their deires to see the world, handle weapons, and have
youthful adventure.”];
Soon Arab states are emptying prisons of their most criminal elements.Leading
Arab figure is Osama Bin Laden.
1980s: Saudi money into Islamic schools in Pakistan.
1989:Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan.Afghan government
holds out until spring 1992.Brutality of Arabs against troops stiffened their
resistance.
|
1985:Gorbachev
becomes head of Communist Party in SovUnion.
1986 as Premir
tries to end the Afghanistan
war. Perestroika, Glasnost. Announces plans to withdraw from Afghanistan
1989:Yeltsin elected.
Beginning 1989 Arab Afghans
begin re-deploying elsewhere:to
their own countries [Jordan, Algeria],
but also to wars to help Muslims in Chechnya, Bosnia.
|
1990s
1990, Aug.Saddam Iraq
invades Kuwait,
moves to border of Saudi
Arabia;
Americans are invited to
come and defend Kuwait.Destroy Iraqi
army in 1991.
1990s:Afghan
Arabs radicalized in Afghanistan
move to Algeria,
encourage an attempt to take over the government, creates a brutal war
|
1990:Bin Laden wants to bring Arab Afghans to repulse Saddam, is
rebuffed:
Osama is forced to move to Sudan,
still followed by a group of loyal "Afghan Arabs"
1992:Wahhabis openly criticize Saudis:Saudis cede more power to clergy.
1994 Abu Musab al-Suri in London
begins to writein Islamist press in London,
Al Ansar magazine, which promoted insurgency in Algeria.Already more
radical than OBL.Saw Taliban takeover in 1996 as a
“golden opportunity”.In 1999 accuses OBL of being
too theatrical.
1995:Osama
complains re Americans in Saudi A.:Nov 13: a bomb
explodes at American run training center in Arabia.
1996 Osama flies to Afghanistan.
|
1992:Afghan
mujahedin fight over control of the country, destroy the capital city.Fighting
continues until 1996, when they are overtaken by a new group:Taliban.Arab-Afghans
disperse to their home countries, start wars in Algeria;
join the war in Bosnia.
1994:Taliban arise in Kandahar, Afghanistan,
to establish order.Gain strength quickly, support
byPakistan.
1996:Taliban take Kabul,
force the mujahedin to flee; Mujahedin form a new group to resist the
Taliban, "Northern Alliance";Within a month Osama and his Arab
fighting men arrive in Afghanistan, forced out of Sudan by Americans.
1996.Osama launches Jihad against the U.S.;
Pak encouraged insurrection in Kashmir; introduced the skills of suicide
bombing to South Asia. In the mean time civil war in Somalia
eliminated any clear center of power there and freewheeling jihadist groups
emerged in the chaos.”Also The Israeli-Palestine conflict [is]…seen as
insoluble.
1996:When Osama “reorganized the Arabs and other foreigners
who saw him as their leaders and offered them a new interpretation of Jihad
as an unconditional and never-ending war against the West and its Muslim
‘lackeys’ in the Islamic world. When al-Qaeda bombed two US embassies in
Africa in 1998, causing heavy casualties among African Muslims, bin Laden
was, in effect, openly proclaiming that killing fellow Muslims and women and
children was a legitimate part of the game, even though the Koran is
categorical about avoiding civilian casualties in war and especially about protecting
women and children.… Jihad was no longer a defensive maneuver but an
offensive weapon that elevated martyrdom… but the Koran categorically forbids
suicide. Until al-Qaeda began turning religious texts on their heads,
martyrdom was accepted only as the last resort of a cornered Muslim warrior
and not as a willfully planned death. This radical change in the concept of
martyrdom has been viewed by many commentators as the license for modern
Islamic terrorism.… The extremists from the 1990s would never have considered throwing their
lives away in a deliberate suicide attack”
|
1991.Soviet
Union formally ends on Dec 31.All along the frontier of the
Soviet Union there are nationalist wars:Afghanistan, Chechnya, Yugoslavia
[Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia.
1995:Bosnian war:1000s of civilians killed by Serbian fighters; in Srebernica 8373 names are missing from one incident.Brutality against Bosnians radicalize some
European Muslims [Sheikh Omar, an Englishman who kills Daniel Pearl in Pakistan]
1980s-90s:Muslim cells form in Europe:Most Muslims are radicalized in Europe.
Pakistan:support for the
Taliban very strong among the military.
1999:Parviz
Musharraf takes power; tries Nawaz
Sharif for treason; allows him to move to Arabia.
|
2000s
|
2002 Abu Musab al-Suri, who would become
member of AlQaeda inner council, originally from Syria,
writes Call for Worldwide Islamic Resistance” [1600 pp long, published on
Internet, Dec, 2004].The goal: "to
bring about the largest number of human and material casualties possible for America
and its allies." But laments likelihood they will lose: sees the Taliban
as the only true Islamic government.”In Palestine
Armed jihad is the only solution.
2003:May, 35 people killed in Riyadh
by Al Qaeda militants. Americans
invade Iraq,
claiming they will find WMD. The war focus shifts from Afghanistan
to Iraq.
|
2001: 9/9 First suicide
attack by al-Qaeda, kill Ahmad Shah Mas’ud.
2001:9/11.Reactions
in the Muslim world are generally sympathetic to
Americans; only in some Arab countries is delight expressed.In Iran:
students pause at soccer games to remember the American dead. Pakistan
army circulates claim that US and Israel
did it themselves to embarrass Muslims.
Americans attack Taliban
in Oct 7, soon destroy most of the Taliban, but lose Taliban leaders and Osama.Pakistan
flies out its troops [who were fighting alongside Taliban].By 2002 American
troops are pulling out, leaving smaller contingent in Afghanistan
[14,000], re-deploying them to Saudi
Arabia in preparation for attack on Iraq.
|
Pakistan :Musharraf reverses support for Taliban, joins Bush’s War on
Terror.
2006:Pakistan
army tries to get control of tribal areas (FATA) but suffers many losses; in
Nov makes compact with tribal leaders to withdraw if they will control
“foreign fighters”.
|
|
By 2008 “the terrorists are
far more ideologically sophisticated than they were in the early 1990s.
|
2008, June: A.
Rashid.“Today, seven years after September 11, jihad for al-Qaeda and its
world-wide allies increasingly means one thing suicide bombing.
“Suicide
attacks have been made possible by the new training and indoctrination
provided by al-Qaeda as well as the booming drug trade, which has provided
the Taliban and al-Qaeda with enormous funds to compensate the families of
young suicides. Women and children are now considered fair game. On Nov 6,
2007, a suicide bomber struck in Baghlan killing
seventy-two Afghans including five members of parliament and fifty-nine
schoolchildren.
|
|
Key developments in the history of Takfiri Islam
>Ibn Taymiya
>Sayyed Qutb
>Ayman Zawahiri
From [Sageman
Leadersless Jihad: 40-43]
>Afghan War:Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam:Maktab al –Khidmatgar;
volunteers from elsewhere
>End of the Afghan war [1988- 1992]:volunteers:many
went home; others, who had criminal records or were otherwise unwelcome at
home, Azzam wanted to send to help the struggles in
land where Muslims were fighting non-Muslims: Kashmir, Palestine, Southern Philippines.Opposition to his view led by Bin Laden formed
a group in 1988.Azzam assassinated in 1989.Home countries of those who were
criminal complained to Pakistan
that they were harboring terrorists, so Pakistan
expelled them.Many went to Khartoum
in response to Hassan al-Turabi’s invitation.In
1989 T. had just helped Gen Omar al-Bashir overthrow
government in Sudan.He formed Popular
Arab Islamic Conference and “issued an invitation to Islamic terrorists” . .
.to come to Khartoum.He
invited Sunni as well as Shia organizations to come,
including Hizbullah [Lebanon]
who taught the others how to do truck bombings.
>1991.First Gulf War. Americans
established in Saudi
Arabia.
>1992, January.Algerian
government cancels second round of elections when it became clear that FIS
would win by a landslide.
>1992.In former Yugoslavia
ethnic cleansing / genocide of Bosnians by Serbs; western powers establish an
embargo, which Muslims resented because it restrained the import of weapons for
the Bosnians [Serbs already had weapons, they said].
>1993.Somali humanitarian crisis induced US military to
move in.
>1994.Chechnyan war breaks out.
>1995.Al Qaeda begins plotting to attack “the far enemy”.This was opposed by most Islamist groups, especially
Egyptian Islamic Group, who attempted an assassination of Mubarak in Addis
Ababa in June.
>1995 Egyptian embassy in Islamabad
was bombed by Zawahiri’s organization, Egyptian
Islamic Jehad.
>1996KhowarTowers
bombed in Saudi Arabia
[by Saudi Hizbullah].
>1996Sudan,
under pressure from other nations for supporting the attempted assassination of
Mubarak, tries to make amends.Captures Carlos the Jackel, expels other “terrorists” including Osama Bin
Laden.
In May, 1996 Bin Laden and a
small cadre of most loyal followers (altogether about 150 people) fly to Afghanistan,
Jalalabad.
In August, 1996, Bin Laden issues a “Declaration of War
against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places.”Some take this
as a fetwa, even though Bin Laden has no religious
status.
Suggested Reading
Fromkin,
David:A Peace to
End All Peace [on the post- WWI period and its aftermath]
Wright, Lawrence.The
Looming Tower:Al-Qaeda and
the Road to 9/11.
Sageman,
Marc.2007.Leadersless Jihad
Coll, Steve.Ghost Wars [On CIA
activities in Afghanistan
/ Pakistan
and attempts to get Osama before 9/11/01, ends one day before 9/11/01.]
Ahmad Rashid 2008.“Jihadi Suicide Bombers:The
New Wave.”New York
Review June 12, 2008, p. 17.