{Late Absolutism in Islam}[13th April 1991]

[Redbook9:93-94][19910413:1056m]{Late Absolutism in Islam}[13th April 1991]

19910413.1056

[continued]

‘In this period [1405-1683]*, long after Islam was once thought to have peaked, centralised absolutism reached its height,** aided in part by the exploitation of gunpowder warfare and in part by new ways to fuse spiritual and military authority. Never before had Islamicate ideals and institutions better demonstrated their ability to encourage political centralisation, or to support a Muslim style of life where there was no organised state, be it in areas where Islam had long been established, or in areas where it was newly arrived. The major states of this period impressed contemporary Europeans; in them some of the greatest Islamicate artistic achievements were made. In this period Muslims formed the cultural patterns that they brought into modern times, and adherence to Islam expanded to approximately its current distribution. As adherence to Islam expanded, far-flung cultural regions began to take on a life of their own. The unity of several of these regions was expressed through Empire – the Ottomans in south-eastern Europe, Anatolia, the Eastern Maghrib, Egypt and Syria; the Safavids in Iran and Iraq; the Indo-Timurids (Mughals) in India. In these empires, Sunnite and Shi’ite became identities on a much larger scale than ever before, expressing competition between large populations; simultaneously Shi’ism acquired a permanent base from which to generate international opposition.’

***

The similarities with the European experience are close. This is a period of diffused rather than concentrated power (left rather than right): the importance of the despotism, in Islamdom as in Christendom, is not in its existence (which may be seen as an extreme response to the extreme problem of governing expanding diffusion) but in its essential failure. ****

#

*[ce. Square brackets per ms]

**{cf [[Redbook9:102-104][19910414:1104#]{Islamic Art: The Word (2)}[14th April 1991],] 103}

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:124]

****{Ingenious. See below?↓ Possibly the fact that Islamdom began at c[irca] M~U~ (compared with Christendom at C) has had a right-wing or ‘hardening’ effect throughout, affecting even the G~ side of the circle.}

#(See ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 127 on

(1) Akbar’s religious tolerance and interest, &

(2) the Nasruddin story: “Carrots”)

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