Part 4 Contextualization (#1): Expansions of Knowledge and Innovation

Part 4 Contextualization (#1): Expansions of Knowledge and Innovation

Following the Crusades, Islam began to experience separation in their political power, which caused major difficulty in the battle against the Crusaders. Religious scholars (ulama), however, maintained religious unification and transmitted knowledge throughout the regions. A few rulers built strong and centralized states. Saladin, for example, unified Egypt, Syria, and parts of Crusader states under his rule. The Mamluck regime did the same, in which resulted in larger states and a type of integrated Islamic identity. There then became clearer distinction and separation between the Sunni and Shi’i as a response to the Crusades. Ruling elites were outsiders to their populations because they were mostly not descents from Arab origins. This caused hindrances in religious developments. There starts to form political decentralization in this time period, but at the same time, cultural religious unification developed. The fragmentation is predominantly stemmed from elites being outsiders, or non-Arabs. Though the fragmentation or foreign approach, cooperation and collaboration in defense against the Crusades established a sense of unity in forming an identity amongst themselves.

Autumn Etemadi

Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 205.