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Venture of Islam #2
İslam'ın Serüveni 2.cilt Orta Dönemlerde İslam'ın Yayılışı
Müslümanlara Kur’an’da “Siz insanlık için çıkarılmış en hayırlı ümmetsiniz, doğruyu emreder, yanlıştan men edersiniz ve Allah’a iman edersiniz” ayetiyle güvence verilir. Bu ayete samimiyetle inanıp Muhammed’in davetine icabet edenler, İslam inancının doğuşundan kısa bir süre sonra İslam’ın damgasını taşıyan, kendine özgü kurumlara, sanatlara, edebiyata, bilime, siyasi ve toplumsal teşekküllere sahip yeni bir toplum inşa etmeyi başarmışlar, bu yeni toplumu yüzyıllar içinde Eski Dünya’nın dört bir yanına yayıp insanlığı İslam’ın hedeflediği ideallerin çatısı altında birleştirmeye diğer tüm toplumlardan daha fazla yaklaşmışlardır.
İlk kez yayımlandığı 1975 yılından günümüze İslam çalışmaları ve uygarlık tarihi alanlarında bir klasik eser haline gelmiş olan İslam’ın Serüveni, Muhammed’in davetine icabet edip binlerce yıllık köklü kültürel geleneklerin kavşak noktasında kendilerini, dünyayı ve dünya içindeki yerlerini yeni bir gözle değerlendirmeye girişen küçük bir “inananlar” hareketinin, dünyayı adalet, insanlık onuru gibi evrensel ilkeler üzerinde yeniden inşa etmek üzere çıktıkları yolda zamanla büyüyerek bugün yaklaşık 1,5 milyar üyesi bulunan bir dünya uygarlığı haline gelişinin izlerini sürüyor. En verimli çağında hayata gözlerini yuman tarihçi ve düşünür Marshall G. S. Hodgson’ın parlak dehasını sergileyen bu kitap, İslam uygarlığına aşina olanlar kadar bu tarihe ve kültüre aşina olmayanlara da hitap etmesi; İslam toplumlarının barındırdığı zenginliği, pek bilinmeyen ilginç ve çarpıcı ayrıntılar üzerinden ortaya koyması; İslam’ı genel dünya tarihi içindeki yerini gözden kaçırmadan değerlendirip toplum, ekonomi, sanat, bilim gibi alanlara ilişkin yeni ufuklar açıcı kışkırtıcı çözümlemeler barındırması ve İslam dünyasının günümüzde içinde bulunduğu buhranın tarihsel kaynaklarının ve bu buhrandan olası çıkış yollarının neler olabileceğine ilişkin ipuçları sağlaması itibarıyla her kitaplıkta bulunması gereken eşsiz bir eser.
İslam’ın Serüveni’nin ikinci cildi olan Orta Dönemlerde İslam’ın Yayılışı, İslamileşmiş uygarlığın nasıl “uluslararası” bir toplum haline geldiğini, dünyanın “meskûn mahaline” hangi kültürel, ekonomik ve toplumsal kalıplar aracılığıyla yayıldığını ve komşu uygarlıklarla doğrudan veya dolaylı yollardan kurduğu ilişkileri mercek altına alıyor. Moğollardan Selçuklulara, Endülüs’ten Malezya’ya, İslam dünyasının yüzyıllar içinde oluşan kültürel sermayesini ve alışverişlerini gözler önüne seriyor.
İlk kez yayımlandığı 1975 yılından günümüze İslam çalışmaları ve uygarlık tarihi alanlarında bir klasik eser haline gelmiş olan İslam’ın Serüveni, Muhammed’in davetine icabet edip binlerce yıllık köklü kültürel geleneklerin kavşak noktasında kendilerini, dünyayı ve dünya içindeki yerlerini yeni bir gözle değerlendirmeye girişen küçük bir “inananlar” hareketinin, dünyayı adalet, insanlık onuru gibi evrensel ilkeler üzerinde yeniden inşa etmek üzere çıktıkları yolda zamanla büyüyerek bugün yaklaşık 1,5 milyar üyesi bulunan bir dünya uygarlığı haline gelişinin izlerini sürüyor. En verimli çağında hayata gözlerini yuman tarihçi ve düşünür Marshall G. S. Hodgson’ın parlak dehasını sergileyen bu kitap, İslam uygarlığına aşina olanlar kadar bu tarihe ve kültüre aşina olmayanlara da hitap etmesi; İslam toplumlarının barındırdığı zenginliği, pek bilinmeyen ilginç ve çarpıcı ayrıntılar üzerinden ortaya koyması; İslam’ı genel dünya tarihi içindeki yerini gözden kaçırmadan değerlendirip toplum, ekonomi, sanat, bilim gibi alanlara ilişkin yeni ufuklar açıcı kışkırtıcı çözümlemeler barındırması ve İslam dünyasının günümüzde içinde bulunduğu buhranın tarihsel kaynaklarının ve bu buhrandan olası çıkış yollarının neler olabileceğine ilişkin ipuçları sağlaması itibarıyla her kitaplıkta bulunması gereken eşsiz bir eser.
İslam’ın Serüveni’nin ikinci cildi olan Orta Dönemlerde İslam’ın Yayılışı, İslamileşmiş uygarlığın nasıl “uluslararası” bir toplum haline geldiğini, dünyanın “meskûn mahaline” hangi kültürel, ekonomik ve toplumsal kalıplar aracılığıyla yayıldığını ve komşu uygarlıklarla doğrudan veya dolaylı yollardan kurduğu ilişkileri mercek altına alıyor. Moğollardan Selçuklulara, Endülüs’ten Malezya’ya, İslam dünyasının yüzyıllar içinde oluşan kültürel sermayesini ve alışverişlerini gözler önüne seriyor.
688 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1974
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About the author
Marshall G.S. Hodgson
18 books79 followersMarshall Goodwin Simms Hodgson was an Islamic studies academic and a world historian at the University of Chicago. He was chairman of the interdisciplinary Committee on Social Thought in Chicago.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 27, 2025
The second volume of the Venture of Islam deals with a significant period in the unfolding of the Islamicate civilization, as Hodgson refers to it. It covers the period from the collapse of the Abassid caliphate as a key and only inheritor of the Islamicate state, the gradual islamization of society and the end of arab hegemony, to the Mongol invasion and finally the expansion of Islam in the Europe, south east Asia and North Africa. Throughout these vicissitudes, Muslims, like any other civilizations, faced problems to which they created, imported and later exported solutions. They also made choices which conditioned the course of History, and tried to make the best out of the climatic, technical and financial resources available at this stage of human technical development.
The most obvious issue that the Muslims run into immediately after the collapse of the caliphate was that of power. For the coming century, no central state will ever come to dominate what the author calls the land of old Islam, which is between the Nile and Oxus. Ephemeral dynasties will rise and fall. This pattern will be also observed in the yet not fully islamized North Africa. These dynasties will create more or less militarized regimes prone to instability and fragmentation. In order to understand the reasons behind this pattern, the author digs deeper into the social and economic factors which led these groups to power.
First determining factor, and which some other authors consider as the key factor in the evolving of the Islamicate political structure, is that of climate. Lands of historical Islam are either completely Arid or semi-arid areas, therefore, there is no land gentry in parallel to that of Europe and China. The development of agriculture needed sophisticated investment and a degree of political stability, the like of which occurred during the heyday of ancient Mesopotamia. But in Islamicate times this situation was both a cause and an effect, of the lack of a strong gentry tied to the land, which in other civilization was the basis of more stable political systems.
Moreover, the meagre landholders, either peasants or absentee gentry in the towns, faced another external threat: that of pastoralism. In arid areas, pastoralism is a significant and self-contained economy. They are in constant contact, or conflict with settled society while having an advantageous situation compered to them. Pastoralists are more mobile and own mobile assets. They are not tied to the land nor obliged to invest heavily only to lose their investment in the next political upheaval. Some settled group even became pastoralists following these instances of political upheaval. The lines between a fragile peasantry and pastoralists are not clear cut in arid and semi-arid areas. But most significantly, the pastoralists constitute an endless resource for military recruitment, contributing further in the political instability.
But human History is not solely determined by material realities. Ideas and believes also play a significant role. Islam, although as monotheistic as other religions from the Irano-semitic heritage, own its distinctiveness to emphasizing certain aspects of this heritage and relegating others to the background. Here we can single out the populistic and egalitarian tendencies of Islam, in contrast to traditional and formalistic hierarchies in other civilizations which kept political and social structures much more stable. In Islamicate civilization, all had their chance and claim to power, whoever is strongest or more efficient in rallying groups with overlapping interests, while maintaining a firm allegiance to Islam of course, can find himself an Emir or a dynasty founder.
Compared with the other two major civilizations of the time, China and Europe, there was great social mobility in the Islamicate society, as all Muslims were equal in front of God, and all other traditional hierarchies, whether kingly like in the Old Iranian times, or religious and priestly as in Christianity or Hinduism, were disposed of. It is a surprisingly “modern” society, where every man can achieve great power and success specially by rising in the ranks in a military career. As this egalitarianism and arrivism was pushed to the extreme, it created an unstable system, prone to militarization, violence and cruelty.
All these conditions were also reflected in the other dominant social groups in Islamicate civilization, and were once again both cause and effect in the course of its development. The absence of a strong land gentry made of the Islamicate society the mercantile society par excellence. This was of course supported by the location of the Islamicate world at the center of the earth’s largest landmass, unlike Europe and China which are relegated to its sides. Large scale mercantile enterprise was undertaken to link both sides of this landmass. Not only goods, but qualified personnel moved constantly. This is exemplified by the fact that every Muslim famous intellectual or religious teacher of this period, even poets and scientists travelled extensively across the major centers of Islamicate civilization: from Cairo, through Damascus, to Baghdad, then Isfahan and finally Samarkand.
Thus, Islamicate society was an international society. Although Islam started as closely related to the arabs, and in its first centuries was largely associated with this particular ethnic group, as time went by and new ethnic and linguistic groups adopted it, some sort of uniformity was needed. The best way to create this uniformity was by emphasizing yet again its egalitarian and populistic tendencies, which transformed into a great potential for social and special mobility. The Islamic community was not tied to one land or one group of people, it was carried with the Muslims wherever they went looking for new mercantile opportunities or military prominence and dynastic ambitions.
This strong sense of community was expressed in a sort of a strongly moralistic sentimentalisms. Muslims thought of themselves as the holders of the true faith and superior righteousness, in charge of bringing God’s heavenly moralistic commandments to earth. The sentimentalism is best exemplified by the fact that any public display of dissidence from the community was felt as a great offence, therefore apostacy was punished by death. The sense of moralistic superiority can also be exemplified by the fact that non-Muslims, although righteous are never given credits and still considered less than a Muslim, who is superior simply because of his allegiance to Islam.
Complementing the Muslim sentimentalism, another more practical tool was developed, that is the Shari’a. At the biggening it was developed by pious minded individuals in response to the urgent question of how to be or what is a Muslim. It turned into a set of rituals, practices and rules that every Muslim should follow in an international society. It did allow room for variation and adaptation to regional variations, but it soon became a mindset mimicking the mercantile environment in which it thrived. It acquired a contractualistic aspect allowing this and prohibiting that, regulating relationships between equal and mobile individuals. Shari’a played a significant role in enforcing the communal unity of the Muslims despite their different origins and languages and great mobility, and defended them from introducing novelty from the different groups with which they were constantly in contact. Everywhere a Muslim went, his allegiance was maintained by the fact that he observes certain practices and refrains from others, which defined his status and that of the infidels.
Due to its literalist and contractualistic aspect, the Shari’a became rigid and soulless to many who had mystical or philosophical tendencies. The need for another expression of an Islam arose. Although they started in separate ways, Islamic philosophy and mysticism later combined in Sufism, as unlike western philosophy, which is more formalistic and systematic, Islamic philosophy came to be dominated by mysticism. And although these expressions of Islam started as elitist interpretations reserved for the few, they could not resist the populistic tendencies inherent in Islam, resulting in the popularization of Sufism to the masses. Sufi sects thus created their own structures to attract followers and supporters, and their elitist mystical and intellectual start was later overshadowed by their becoming a sort of popular superstitious religion ambiguously tolerated by the Shari’a minded, providing emotional support for the masses in an unstable and fragmented society.
After the Mongol conquest, The International society created by the Islamicate civilization reached its peak. Both Shar’ia and Sufism acquired stable forms or even exhausted their resources for innovation that a certain tendency for conservatism prevailed. The focus was to preserve what was achieved and protect it from any innovations which can only lead to its corruption. Islam expanded in Europe by the military prowess of the Ottomans, in India where it attracted lower castes marginalized by the rigid Hindu hierarchy, and in South east Asia thanks to its mercantile advantage it promised. In the lands of Old Islam, the patronizing states created following the Mongol invasions were the last wave of fragmented military régimes to be exist before new conditions of World History set forth new changes.
The middle period was thus, a period of complex elaboration on the first centuries of Islam. It was also a period of Innovation, in which decisive intellectual and cultural choices were made which make the backbone of the Muslim historical, religious and intellectual consciousness. This consciousness will further be tested by the rise of the gunpowder empires, but most of all, the massive change that agrarian based civilization will go through with the coming of the modern technical society.
The most obvious issue that the Muslims run into immediately after the collapse of the caliphate was that of power. For the coming century, no central state will ever come to dominate what the author calls the land of old Islam, which is between the Nile and Oxus. Ephemeral dynasties will rise and fall. This pattern will be also observed in the yet not fully islamized North Africa. These dynasties will create more or less militarized regimes prone to instability and fragmentation. In order to understand the reasons behind this pattern, the author digs deeper into the social and economic factors which led these groups to power.
First determining factor, and which some other authors consider as the key factor in the evolving of the Islamicate political structure, is that of climate. Lands of historical Islam are either completely Arid or semi-arid areas, therefore, there is no land gentry in parallel to that of Europe and China. The development of agriculture needed sophisticated investment and a degree of political stability, the like of which occurred during the heyday of ancient Mesopotamia. But in Islamicate times this situation was both a cause and an effect, of the lack of a strong gentry tied to the land, which in other civilization was the basis of more stable political systems.
Moreover, the meagre landholders, either peasants or absentee gentry in the towns, faced another external threat: that of pastoralism. In arid areas, pastoralism is a significant and self-contained economy. They are in constant contact, or conflict with settled society while having an advantageous situation compered to them. Pastoralists are more mobile and own mobile assets. They are not tied to the land nor obliged to invest heavily only to lose their investment in the next political upheaval. Some settled group even became pastoralists following these instances of political upheaval. The lines between a fragile peasantry and pastoralists are not clear cut in arid and semi-arid areas. But most significantly, the pastoralists constitute an endless resource for military recruitment, contributing further in the political instability.
But human History is not solely determined by material realities. Ideas and believes also play a significant role. Islam, although as monotheistic as other religions from the Irano-semitic heritage, own its distinctiveness to emphasizing certain aspects of this heritage and relegating others to the background. Here we can single out the populistic and egalitarian tendencies of Islam, in contrast to traditional and formalistic hierarchies in other civilizations which kept political and social structures much more stable. In Islamicate civilization, all had their chance and claim to power, whoever is strongest or more efficient in rallying groups with overlapping interests, while maintaining a firm allegiance to Islam of course, can find himself an Emir or a dynasty founder.
Compared with the other two major civilizations of the time, China and Europe, there was great social mobility in the Islamicate society, as all Muslims were equal in front of God, and all other traditional hierarchies, whether kingly like in the Old Iranian times, or religious and priestly as in Christianity or Hinduism, were disposed of. It is a surprisingly “modern” society, where every man can achieve great power and success specially by rising in the ranks in a military career. As this egalitarianism and arrivism was pushed to the extreme, it created an unstable system, prone to militarization, violence and cruelty.
All these conditions were also reflected in the other dominant social groups in Islamicate civilization, and were once again both cause and effect in the course of its development. The absence of a strong land gentry made of the Islamicate society the mercantile society par excellence. This was of course supported by the location of the Islamicate world at the center of the earth’s largest landmass, unlike Europe and China which are relegated to its sides. Large scale mercantile enterprise was undertaken to link both sides of this landmass. Not only goods, but qualified personnel moved constantly. This is exemplified by the fact that every Muslim famous intellectual or religious teacher of this period, even poets and scientists travelled extensively across the major centers of Islamicate civilization: from Cairo, through Damascus, to Baghdad, then Isfahan and finally Samarkand.
Thus, Islamicate society was an international society. Although Islam started as closely related to the arabs, and in its first centuries was largely associated with this particular ethnic group, as time went by and new ethnic and linguistic groups adopted it, some sort of uniformity was needed. The best way to create this uniformity was by emphasizing yet again its egalitarian and populistic tendencies, which transformed into a great potential for social and special mobility. The Islamic community was not tied to one land or one group of people, it was carried with the Muslims wherever they went looking for new mercantile opportunities or military prominence and dynastic ambitions.
This strong sense of community was expressed in a sort of a strongly moralistic sentimentalisms. Muslims thought of themselves as the holders of the true faith and superior righteousness, in charge of bringing God’s heavenly moralistic commandments to earth. The sentimentalism is best exemplified by the fact that any public display of dissidence from the community was felt as a great offence, therefore apostacy was punished by death. The sense of moralistic superiority can also be exemplified by the fact that non-Muslims, although righteous are never given credits and still considered less than a Muslim, who is superior simply because of his allegiance to Islam.
Complementing the Muslim sentimentalism, another more practical tool was developed, that is the Shari’a. At the biggening it was developed by pious minded individuals in response to the urgent question of how to be or what is a Muslim. It turned into a set of rituals, practices and rules that every Muslim should follow in an international society. It did allow room for variation and adaptation to regional variations, but it soon became a mindset mimicking the mercantile environment in which it thrived. It acquired a contractualistic aspect allowing this and prohibiting that, regulating relationships between equal and mobile individuals. Shari’a played a significant role in enforcing the communal unity of the Muslims despite their different origins and languages and great mobility, and defended them from introducing novelty from the different groups with which they were constantly in contact. Everywhere a Muslim went, his allegiance was maintained by the fact that he observes certain practices and refrains from others, which defined his status and that of the infidels.
Due to its literalist and contractualistic aspect, the Shari’a became rigid and soulless to many who had mystical or philosophical tendencies. The need for another expression of an Islam arose. Although they started in separate ways, Islamic philosophy and mysticism later combined in Sufism, as unlike western philosophy, which is more formalistic and systematic, Islamic philosophy came to be dominated by mysticism. And although these expressions of Islam started as elitist interpretations reserved for the few, they could not resist the populistic tendencies inherent in Islam, resulting in the popularization of Sufism to the masses. Sufi sects thus created their own structures to attract followers and supporters, and their elitist mystical and intellectual start was later overshadowed by their becoming a sort of popular superstitious religion ambiguously tolerated by the Shari’a minded, providing emotional support for the masses in an unstable and fragmented society.
After the Mongol conquest, The International society created by the Islamicate civilization reached its peak. Both Shar’ia and Sufism acquired stable forms or even exhausted their resources for innovation that a certain tendency for conservatism prevailed. The focus was to preserve what was achieved and protect it from any innovations which can only lead to its corruption. Islam expanded in Europe by the military prowess of the Ottomans, in India where it attracted lower castes marginalized by the rigid Hindu hierarchy, and in South east Asia thanks to its mercantile advantage it promised. In the lands of Old Islam, the patronizing states created following the Mongol invasions were the last wave of fragmented military régimes to be exist before new conditions of World History set forth new changes.
The middle period was thus, a period of complex elaboration on the first centuries of Islam. It was also a period of Innovation, in which decisive intellectual and cultural choices were made which make the backbone of the Muslim historical, religious and intellectual consciousness. This consciousness will further be tested by the rise of the gunpowder empires, but most of all, the massive change that agrarian based civilization will go through with the coming of the modern technical society.
August 24, 2021
جزء مهم جدًا حول التراث الاسلامي في العصور الوسطى و إن كان يعطي دورًأ كبيرًا للتصوف في حركة التاريخ الإسلامي في العصر الوسيط.
July 29, 2011
The second installment of Hodgson's trilogy is if anything even better than the first, giving the reader a bird's eye view of the socio-cultural context of late medieval Islam. As in the first volume, I particularly enjoyed Hodgson's treatment of religious developments and especially of sufism. I wish the author had been even more told than usual in questioning the traditional narrative of Islamic decline as the society that emerges from the pages of this work is revealed as one in the full prime of health and vitality and in no sense decadent.
August 2, 2010
Interesting, but it's so dry that it takes a lot of work to push through it. I read the first volume, but I just couldn't force my way through this one. These are full of information, but more than a little overwhelming. Too many names, places, and empires to keep track of. More maps, charts, etc. would really help the entire series.
August 25, 2012
The most comprehensive History of the Islamic World in the Medieval Period. Deals with dynastic, culture and intellectual developments. Well written and extremely erudite, it is a reference used by all specialists in the field. I am not as enamored of volume I as I am of this volume.
August 1, 2018
Although needlessly tangential and verbose this particular volume does succeed in its primary aim, it does inform the reader of how Islam expanded in the middle periods. The problem however is this book really does struggle under its own weight. Hodgson seems to have been obsessed with this notion that the history of a religion is dependent on other co-existing religions and cultures. You can't deny there is truth in this; but to try to recount every possible impact makes for arduous and laborious reading.
There were a few places in the book where I doubted the validity of some of his statements; such as his idea that that the early Muslims had a global sense of brotherhood or that homosexuality was a common practice in segregated households.
Disappointingly, despite the author's painstaking research. A question which I have had for a very long time was left unanswered. Namely, how comes there was a period of 500 years when no scientific investigation took place in the Islamic world?
A couple of fundamental points which I would have expected to be analysed deeply in an Islamic history book were also skimmed over. 1) The Sacking of Baghdad; what impact did it have on the Islamic world? 2) What led Genghis Khan's grandson Berke to convert the Islam and how was he able to halt the planned destruction of the Kaabah?
That said; I did gain a couple of insights from this book. Such as how beneficial Sufims was in spreading Islam to all corners of the globe.
Hodgson makes an interesting point as to the conversion of people to Islam. People did not convert because they were spellbound by the wonders of the Quran. They converted because they did not enjoy the inferior status of being a 'Dhimmi' let alone the tax you had to pay.
Islam spread through India because there was much in Sufism that complemented Hindu mysticism.
The itinerate Sufi with his simple monotheistic message did more to propagate Islam than the Shariah minded cleric.
There were a few places in the book where I doubted the validity of some of his statements; such as his idea that that the early Muslims had a global sense of brotherhood or that homosexuality was a common practice in segregated households.
Disappointingly, despite the author's painstaking research. A question which I have had for a very long time was left unanswered. Namely, how comes there was a period of 500 years when no scientific investigation took place in the Islamic world?
A couple of fundamental points which I would have expected to be analysed deeply in an Islamic history book were also skimmed over. 1) The Sacking of Baghdad; what impact did it have on the Islamic world? 2) What led Genghis Khan's grandson Berke to convert the Islam and how was he able to halt the planned destruction of the Kaabah?
That said; I did gain a couple of insights from this book. Such as how beneficial Sufims was in spreading Islam to all corners of the globe.
Hodgson makes an interesting point as to the conversion of people to Islam. People did not convert because they were spellbound by the wonders of the Quran. They converted because they did not enjoy the inferior status of being a 'Dhimmi' let alone the tax you had to pay.
Islam spread through India because there was much in Sufism that complemented Hindu mysticism.
The itinerate Sufi with his simple monotheistic message did more to propagate Islam than the Shariah minded cleric.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2022
Rereading it and appreciating the sheer breadth and depth of Hodgson's knowledge. I think very few historians equal him because not only is this work extremely insightful for its time, but it also anticipates and addresses many of the challenges and discussions that came up almost half a century later. I particularly liked Hodgson's treatment of the Islamic monarchies in this volume and the random violence that they entailed.
May 30, 2021
Kitabı anlayabilmek için hazır bulunuşluluk seviyenizin yüksek olması gerekli. Medeniyetler, coğrafya, dil, din ve tarih bilgisi yeterli seviyede olmayanlar için okuması zor olacaktır. Özellikle orjinalinde de bir sorun olan çok uzun ve muğlak cümleler çeviriyle beraber daha da anlaşılmaz hale gelmiş durumda. Okunması için büyük merak ve sabır sahibi olunması gerekiyor.
January 12, 2009
The Venture of Islam series is simply the best history of the the Islamic (and Islamicate!) world as a whole. Hodgson was such a visionary thinker, it is a shame he passed away so young!
March 5, 2013
A classic! What else can I say.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews