/r/islamichistory
/r/islamichistory is a place for discussions about Muslim and Islamicate History. Please familiarize yourself with our rules and guidelines before participating.
r/IslamicHistory endeavours to create a constructive platform for the learning and discussion of topics, subjects, and themes in Islamic History— Including, but not limited to, all academic disciplines that comprise the humanities (e.g. literature, linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, political-science,…etc...), Muslim scholarship or Islamic contributions in the fields of STEM, and relevant contemporary research and studies*.
*On contemporary research/studies: Information sourced from Anti-Muslim polemicists and affiliated organizations will not be permitted.
In order to achieve the aforementioned aim, r/IslamicHistory will:
o Collect and curate free academic resources and primary source material.
o Collect and curate accessible media resources (i.e. photography, film, audio).
o Host and/or lead reading groups.
o Host and/or lead collaborative projects (e.g. development of original learning materials, media, and research projects).
Your participation is welcome and encouraged. Feel free to pose questions, initiate discussions, submit relevant content, or just lurk and learn.
Rules:
Be respectful. Argumenta ad hominem, harassment, rude language, and any forms of abuse or bigotry will not be tolerated.
No politics. While individuals are entitled to hold political opinions and personal interpretations on matters within and outside the scope of r/IslamicHistory, any explicitly political posts will be removed. Political content is only acceptable within the framework of research and intelligent discussion regarding the expressed ideologies.
No proselytization. Avoid preaching or evangelizing any ideologies—this applies to both secular and religious beliefs.
Rules may change. As r/IslamicHistory is still developing as a community, the rules listed herein may change.
Moderator discretion. r/IslamicHistory is an actively moderated community. Enforcement of listed rules and guidelines are at the discretion of moderators.
Follow content guidelines.
A. Abide by the Reddit Content Policy.
B. Practice good Reddiquette.
C. Post original sources when possible. Nobody wants to read clickbait rehashes.
D. Stay on topic. If the discussion at hand is on the community functions of Sufi orders in North African Ottoman territories, don’t go off on a tangent about Isma’ilism in the Indian diaspora.
E. Tag your post titles to categorize them appropriately.
• Add [A] to denote academic publications.
• Add [P] to denote personal work (i.e. anything that you wrote yourself).
• Add [L] to denote literature (e.g. memoirs, histories, poetry, fiction) written by Muslims, or about Muslims and/or Islam from the distant past (i.e. Pre-1990’s).
• Add [R] to denote a non-academic religious source. (E.g. a contemporary religious leader providing an oral history or narrative on a historical event).
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/r/islamichistory
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Mamma Haïdara Commerative Library, Timbuktu, Mali. The number of manuscripts in the collections has been estimated as high as 700,000. An illustrated Koran from the 12th century is seen inside the glass case in front of Abdel Kader Haidara who is the curator.
21:12 UTC
Ottoman Embroidered Quran Cases, 19th Century
20:25 UTC
Codex Mashhad is one of the most important remaining documents from the first Islamic centuries that can give us a new and more inspiring picture of the history of the Qurʾānic text.
Codex Mashhad is one of the most important remaining documents from the first Islamic centuries that can give us a new and more inspiring picture of the history of the Qurʾānic text. The combination of all features of this codex as a whole is found in few copies of early Qurʾāns written in ḥijāzī style. Considering the text, the spelling rules, the variant readings, the orthographic peculiarities, and the arrangement of sūras, it may be concluded that the main part of this codex was transcribed in a very early period, probably in the first/seventh century. Yet unlike other early Qurʾānic manuscripts, the whole Qurʾān in the initial status of Codex Mashhad has been transcribed based on the official ʿUthmānic version but according to Ibn Masʿūd’s arrangement of sūras.
Codex Mashhad: Qurʾān Manuscripts Nos. 18 & 4116 in the Āstān-i Quds Library, edited by: Morteza Karimi-Nia, foreword by: Jawad al-Shahrestani, Qom: The Alulbayt Islamic Heritage Institute, 1444/2022, 1024pp. ISBN: 978-964-319-664-8.
Codex Mashhad: An Introduction to its History and Contents, Morteza Karimi-Nia, Qom: The Alulbayt Islamic Heritage Institute, 1445/2023, 192pp. ISBN: 978-964-319-665-3.
20:16 UTC
Abd al-Halim Noda (1868-1904) was the first Japanese Muslim convert confirmed in historical records. The young journalist, who met Sultan Abdulhamid II during his visit to the Ottoman Empire, was very impressed by the Sultan's behavior.
17:50 UTC
The Hajj caravan in Damascus, 1903
11:09 UTC
Visiting the Great Mosque of Kairouan المسجد الأعظم بالقيروان
Selam aleyküm! Who here knew that North Africa’s oldest mosque is located in the ancient city of Kairouan, Tunisia? I didn’t too long ago until I decided to take a pilgrimage to check it out for myself. Along the way I also visited an ancient Roman amphitheater located in El Jem. I recommend a road trip across Tunisia 🇹🇳 to everybody! It’s rich with Islamic and Ottoman history you will be amazed at. Love from 🇹🇷 + 🇬🇧. Let me know if you’ve been before and your thoughts on it or if you’d like to visit soon.
17:41 UTC
Diana Darke - Christopher Wren and the ‘Saracen Style’
Diana says, "An exploration of Islamic influence in key European monuments can illuminate Christopher Wren's theory that "the Gothic Style should more rightly be called the Saracen Style", as evidenced by his own designs."
16:23 UTC
Did Islamic Thought Lose Its Way After the Golden Age? Can Faith and Science Coexist Again?
This is a profound inquiry that is of great significance. With awareness to my limitations and with humility, humbleness I would like to present my perspective. The arab world was at the golden age during the 8th century to the 14th century. During the golden age, the arab world held its most profound contribution to mankind in various fields such as science, medicine, philosophy, literature to just name a few. I believe they transcended to unparalleled grounds because the interweaving of these core values. Intellectual curiosity, logical reasoning, openness, tolerance. It was through the broad tapestry of global knowledge coupled with a passion to aim at excellence the Arab world reached unprecedented levels.
Somewhere during the 15th century tolerance got misconstrued into being un Islamic and thus initiating a pivotal change into Islamic thought and asserting a more conservative approach. Which leads me to my primary inquiry which is as follows; if the virtues that paved the way for this immense success in the Islamic world is stifled then how can the Islamic world ever retain its past glory? I think the primary battle for modern Islam today is the interplay between faith - reason, materialism - spirituality, authority - autonomy. A big issue is the uncertainty Muslims have with the interplay with secular knowledge to divine religion. It is my belief one has to examine what scholars of that era positioned themselves in the matter, they not only believed secular knowledge to be beneficial but necessary as the two don’t contradict each others. Ibn Rushd posits in The Decisive Treatise: “truth does not contradict truth”. Indeed I believe the ultimate truth is in the Quran and that it is free from any contradictions so therefore general openness should be encouraged. Quran 4:82:
“Do they not then consider the Qur’an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradiction.
15:52 UTC
Bosniaks at the Sarajevo train station, preparing for their journey to Mecca to perform Hajj. Late 1800s or early 1900s
19:54 UTC
Yıldırım Bayezid Camii/Mosque, Bursa, 1870.
19:06 UTC
1901 Census of Baluchistan Province: Excerpt regarding the spread of Islam
01:12 UTC
The Arabic-Islamic Takeover of Egypt 639-642/664 AD
20:12 UTC
A quote from the founding father of the Bashkir Republic, Ahmet Zaki Validi, about the hypocrisy of russians towards the Bashkirs
03:10 UTC
Jama Masjid: Exploring Delhi’s Iconic Mughal Monument
The Jama Masjid Mosque was built between 1650 and 1656 as part of a grand scheme by Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, to establish Shajahanabad, a new capital city in Delhi. The large open-air mosque, constructed from sandstone and marble, covers an area of 4200 m2 and is the largest mosque of the Mughal Empire. Since its construction, the same family have managed the mosque and the imams who preach there. During this episode we discover the symbolic Old Delhi monument that, from sunrise to sunset, sees thousands of worshippers and visitors gather to pray, or simply to walk around the site.
13:52 UTC
Sultan Murad Mosque, Skopje, 28 March 1917
09:10 UTC
Today, January 24, we remember the victims of the massacre in Höyäntöź, committed by the russian occupation army. We will never forget and never forgive
03:14 UTC
Samarkand, Uzbekistan- The Shah-i-Zinda ensemble includes mausoleums, mosques & other ritual buildings of 11-15th & 19th centuries.
The Shah-i-Zinda ensemble includes mausoleums, mosques & other ritual buildings of 11-15th & 19th centuries. The name Shah-i-Zinda (meaning The living king) is connected with the legend that Qutham ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH is buried here
Photographed by Ash Diler
Credit:
https://x.com/baytalfann/status/1880901357877723295?s=46&t=V4TqIkKwXmHjXV6FwyGPfg
18:15 UTC
Sons of Ishmael: Muslims through European Eyes in the Middle Ages by John V. Tolan. PDF link below ⬇️
Sons of Ishmael is the epithet that many Christian writers of the Middle Ages gave to Muslims. ""Sons of Ishmael"" focuses on the history of conflict and convergence between Latin Christendom and the Arab Muslim world during this period.John Tolan is one of the world's foremost scholars in the field of early Christian/Muslim interactions. These eleven essays explore, in greater depth than his previous books, a wide variety of topics.The Bible and Qur'an agree that the Arabs were the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar. Ishmael is described in Genesis as ""a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him."" To many medieval Christians, this was a prophecy of the violence and enmity between Ishmael's progeny and the Christians - spiritual descendants of his half-brother Isaac.Yet Tolan also discusses areas of convergence between Christendom and Islam such as the devotion to the Virgin Mary in twelfth-century Syria and Egypt and the chivalrous myths surrounding Muslim princes, especially Saladin.By providing a closer look at the ways Europeans perceived Islam and Muslims in the Middle Ages, Tolan opens a window into understanding the roots of current stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs in Western culture.
Link:
18:46 UTC
Facsimilé of the manuscript of Dalā’il al-Khayrāt, written by al-Qandūsī
22:48 UTC