Editing History of Islam (section)

=== Mongol period ===
{{Main|Mongol invasions and conquests}}
{{Further|Turco-Mongol tradition}}
[[File:DiezAlbumsStudyingTheKoran.jpg|thumb|230px|The [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] ruler, [[Ghazan]], depicted studying the [[Quran]] inside a [[Yurt|tent]]. Illustration of Rashīd ad-Dīn, first quarter of the 14th century, [[Berlin State Library|Staatsbibliothek]], [[Berlin]].]]

While the Abbasid Caliphate suffered a decline following the reign of [[al-Wathiq]] (842–847) and [[al-Mu'tadid]] (892–902),<ref>Anthony Parel, Ronald C. Keith ''Comparative Political Philosophy: Studies Under the Upas Tree'' Lexington Books, 2003 {{ISBN|978-0-7391-0610-5}} p. 186</ref> the [[Mongol Empire]] put an end to the Abbasid dynasty in 1258.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Abbasid Dynasty|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> The [[Mongols]] spread throughout [[Central Asia]] and [[History of Iran#Mongol conquest and rule (1219–1370)|Persia]];<ref name="Findley 2005">{{cite book|last=Findley|first=Carter V.|author-link=Carter V. Findley|year=2005|chapter=Islam and Empire from the Seljuks through the Mongols|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToAjDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|title=The Turks in World History|location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=56–66|isbn=978-0-19-517726-8|oclc=54529318}}</ref> the Persian city of [[Isfahan]] had fallen to them by 1237.<ref>[https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/ilkhanate.html The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Il-Khanate)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015081646/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/ilkhanate.html |date=15 October 2013 }}. ucalgary.ca</ref> 

The [[Ilkhans]] of [[Borjigin|Chingisid descendence]] understood themselves as defenders of Islam, perhaps even as the legimitate heirs of the Abbasid Caliphate.<ref name=Peacock/>{{rp|style=ama|p=59}} [[Al-Nuwayri]], stated that the Mongols had heavenly approval and would live in accordance with the restrictions of [[Sharia|Islamic law]].<ref>Armstrong, Lyall. "The Making of a Sufi: al-Nuwayri's Account of the Origin of Genghis Khan (MSR X. 2, 2006)." (2006).</ref> Some [[Sufism|Sufi Muslim]] writers, such as the Persian poet and mystic [[Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī]] and his biographer Šams al-Dīn Aḥmad Aflākī, regarded the Mongols and [[Turkic peoples]] from the [[Eurasian Steppe]] as more [[Mumin|pious]] than the [[Ulama|Muslim scholars]], [[Asceticism#Islam|ascetics]], and [[mufti]]s of their time, and hence expressed favor of their conquests, considering the [[Mongol Empire|invasion]] as divine punishment from [[God in Islam|God]].<ref name=Peacock/>{{rp|style=ama|p=81}} Aflaki identifies the invasion with a ''hadith'', describing the Turks (and Mongols) as the army of Muhammad's wrath. In his ''Manaqib al-'Arifin'', the Turks and Mongols are described as God's "punishment from hell", and by that, people who follow the will of the Creator.<ref name="Dechant, John 2011"/> 

Many scholars had argued that the conversion of the Turks and Mongols has been filtered through the mediation of [[Persian culture|Persian]] and [[Central Asian]] culture.<ref name="Findley 2005"/><ref name="Nicholson 2018">{{cite book|author=M.L.D.|year=2018|chapter=Türkic religion|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A09WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1533|editor-last=Nicholson|editor-first=Oliver|title=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity]]|location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=II|pages=1533–4|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-881625-6|lccn=2017955557}}</ref> Rather than converting to Islamic orthodoxy, they encountered Islam mostly through the preaching of [[Sufism|Sufi Muslim]] wandering ascetics and mystics ([[fakir]]s and [[dervish]]es).<ref name="Findley 2005"/><ref name="Amitai-Preiss 1999">{{cite journal|last=Amitai-Preiss|first=Reuven|date=January 1999|title=Sufis and Shamans: Some Remarks on the Islamization of the Mongols in the Ilkhanate|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|volume=42|issue=1|pages=27–46|doi=10.1163/1568520991445605|issn=1568-5209|jstor=3632297}}</ref> Recently this view has been challenged on grounds that a defined Islamic orthodoxy has not yet existed during the conversion of the Turks and Mongols.<ref name="Findley 2005"/><ref name="Dechant, John 2011">Dechant, John. "Depictions of the Islamization of the Mongols in the" Manāqib al-ʿārifīn" and the Foundation of the Mawlawī Community." Mawlana Rumi Review 2 (2011): 135-164.</ref>

In the 13th to the 14th centuries, both [[Sunni Islam|Sunnī]] and [[Shia Islam|Shīʿa]] practices were intertwined, and historical figures commonly associated with the history of Shīʿa Islam, like [[Ali|ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]] and [[Ja'far al-Sadiq|Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq]] (respectively, the first and sixth [[The Twelve Imams|Shīʿīte Imams]]), played an almost universal role for Muslim believers to understand "[[Al-Ghaib|the Unseen]]" (''al-Ghaib'').<ref name=Peacock>{{cite book|last=Peacock|first=A.C.S.|year=2019|title=Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia|location=[[Cambridge]]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|doi=10.1017/9781108582124|isbn=978-1-108-58212-4|s2cid=211657444}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p=24}} A sharp distinction between Sunnī, Shīʿa, and heterodox Islamic beliefs did not exist. Therefore, ideas from foreign cultures were easier to integrate into the Islamic worldview.<ref name="Findley 2005"/> During this era, the Persian Sufi poet and mystic [[Rumi|Jalaluddin Rumi]] (1207–1273) wrote his masterpiece, the ''[[Masnavi]]'', which he believed to be "sent down" from God and understood it as the [[Tafsir|proper explanation of the Quran]] (''tafsīr'').<ref name=Peacock/>{{rp|style=ama|p=97}} According to Aflaki, the invading Mongols were impressed by Rumi's devotion to God, so they did not assault him, believing it would cause the wrath of God upon them.<ref name="Dechant, John 2011"/>

On the other hand, [[Ibn Taymiyya]] (1263–1328) did not accept the Mongols' conversion to Sunnism.<ref>Paul Salem ''Bitter Legacy: Ideology and Politics in the Arab World'' [[Syracuse University Press]], 1994 {{ISBN|978-0-8156-2629-9}} p. 117</ref> Feeling threatened by the [[Crusaders]] and the [[Mongol invasions of the Levant|Mongols]], ibn Taymiyya called for elimination by [[jihad|a militant ''jihād'']] against whom he deemed "heretic", including [[Shia]]s, ''[[Ash'arism|al-Ashʿariyya]]'' and ''[[Falsafa|falāsifa]]'' (philosophers),<ref name="ReferenceD">Richard Gauvain ''Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God'' [[Routledge]] 2013 {{ISBN|978-0-7103-1356-0}} p. 6</ref> and established his own theological doctrines.<ref name="ReferenceA">Mary Hawkesworth, Maurice Kogan ''Encyclopedia of Government and Politics: 2-volume set'' [[Routledge]] 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-136-91332-7}} pp. 270–271</ref> His theology was characterized by a literal understanding of the Quran,<ref name="ReferenceA" />{{sfnp|Çakmak|2017|p=665}} a [[Physicalism|materialistic ontology]],<ref>Hoover, Jon, "Ibn Taymiyya", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2025/entries/ibn-taymiyya/>. Section 2</ref> and a rejection of most philosophical and mystical approaches in favor of a simplistic and dogmatic theology.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Another unique characteristic of his theological approach was the importance of a [[Theocracy|theocratic state]]. Prior to ibn Taimiyya, religious wisdom was meant to guide governmental authorities, while ibn Taymiyya demanded [[Power (social and political)|political power]] to promote religious piety.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Having a deep-rooting discern for the Mongols, ibn Taimiyya sought to pronounce ''[[takfir|takfīr]]'' (excommunication) upon the Turco-Mongol rulers, despite their profession of the ''[[shahada]]'' (Islamic testimony of faith), or regular observance of ''[[salah|aṣ-Ṣalāh]]'' (obligatory prayers), ''[[sawm]]'' (fasting) and other expressions of religiosity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sivan |first=Emmanuel |title=Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-300-04914-5 |location=Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton, N.Y., USA |pages=96–98 |chapter=Four: The Sunni revolution}}</ref> His disciple [[ibn Kathir]] ( d. 1373), propounded the same belief in his ''tafsīr''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sivan |first=Emmanuel |title=Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-300-04914-5 |location=Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton, N.Y., USA |pages=97–98 |chapter=Four: The Sunni revolution}}</ref>

During his lifetime, ibn Taimiyya played only a marginal role and most of his writings were rejected. He was repeatedly accused of blasphemy by anthropomorphizing God, and his disciple [[Ibn Kathir]] distanced himself from his mentor.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Spevack|first=Aaron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htx8BAAAQBAJ|title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri|date=2014|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|isbn=978-1-4384-5371-2|pages=129–130}}</ref> Yet, some of Ibn Taymiyya's teaching influenced Ibn Kathir's methodology on ''tafsīr'', discounted much of the exegetical tradition since then.<ref>Karen Bauer ''Gender Hierarchy in the Qur'an: Medieval Interpretations, Modern Responses'' [[Cambridge University Press]] 2015 {{ISBN|978-1-316-24005-2}} p. 115</ref><ref>Aysha A. Hidayatullah ''Feminist Edges of the Qur'an'' [[Oxford University Press]] 2014 {{ISBN|978-0-199-35957-8}} p. 25</ref> Only centuries later, among [[Wahhabism|Wahhabis]] and in 21st century [[Salafism]], their writings gained notable importance.<ref name="ReferenceD" /><ref name="ReferenceA" />{{sfnp|Çakmak|2017|p=665}}{{sfnp|Leaman|2006|page=[{{google books|plainurl=y|id=isDgI0-0Ip4C|page=632}} 632]}}