Análisis de los patrones de oferta y demanda

A berber dynasty that arose from the deserts of

southern Mauritania, the Almoravids conquered morocco and Islamicate Spain during the sec-

ond half of the 11th century. The founder of the Almoravid movement, a teacher of Maliki law

named Abd Allah ibn Yasin (d. 1058), was origi- nally brought to the desert by a Berber chief, who was eager for his people to receive proper Islamic instruction. Imposing harsh religious discipline upon the tribesmen, Ibn Yasin developed a core group of followers, whom he later sent to conquer the surrounding lands and enforce his rigorous interpretation of Islam. Although Ibn Yasin was killed in battle in 1058, his successors, Abu Bakr ibn Umar (d. 1087) and Yusuf ibn Tashfin (d. 1106) extended Almoravid rule southward into Ghana and northward throughout Morocco and into Isl- amicate Spain. After establishing their new capitol of Marrakesh in southern Morocco, Almoravid armies first crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 1086 to support Muslim princes under siege from the Christian reconquest (Spanish: Reconquista). By the death of Ibn Tashfin in 1106, the Almoravids were supreme rulers over Islamicate Spain.

Ironically, historians since ibn khaldUn (d.

1406) have speculated that the conquest of Spain was actually the first step in the Almoravid downfall. They argue that when the Almoravids encountered the cultured lifestyle of andalUsia,

they eventually abandoned the disciplined ways that had led to their success. Regardless, the Almoravid military bogged down in Spain, and their administrators encountered resistance from the population, who resented domination by what they thought were uncouth desert tribesmen. By the 1140s, much of Andalusia was in open revolt, while the Almohad movement was waging a suc- cessful war against the Almoravids in Morocco. The Almohad victory was complete upon the death of the last Almoravid sUltan in 1147, and

the Almoravid dynasty came to an end as sud- denly as it had burst upon the political scene less than 100 years earlier. However, the lasting influ- ence of the Almoravids is seen in the continued dominance of the maliki legal school, which

they helped to establish in North Africa. See also almohaddynasty; West aFrica.

Stephen Cory

Further reading: Richard Fletcher, Moorish Spain

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992); Hugh Kennedy, Muslim Spain: A Political History of al-Andalus (London: Longman, 1996); H. T. Norris, “New Evi- dence on the Life of Abdullah b. Yasin and the Origins of the Almoravid Movement.” Journal of African History 12 (1971): 255–268.

almsgiving

Almsgiving is a form of charity. It represents an ethical principle, embraced by most societies and religions, that people who enjoy wealth and pros- perity have a moral obligation to assist those who are less fortunate and to financially support insti- tutions that serve the needs of individuals and the public. In Islam this obligation is understood to be both a service to God and a service to people. Those who perform this service are promised rewards in this life and in the aFterliFe. There are

two basic forms of almsgiving in Islam: zakat, one of the Five pillars of worship, and sadaqa, a vol-

untary form of giving. Both are authorized in the qUran and hadith, and both are governed by the sharia. Other kinds of charitable giving in Islam

are perpetual endowments (known as waqfs) and a special tithe (khums) the Shia give to their religious leaders. Some hadith declare that almost any act of kindness toward another is almsgiving. The linkage of zakat with belief and worship is expressed in the Quran:

Goodness is not that you turn your face to the east or west. Rather goodness is that a person believe in God, the last day, the angels, the book, and the prophets; that he gives wealth out of love to relatives, orphans, the needy, travelers, slaves; that he performs prayer, and that he gives zakat. (Q 2:177) Zakat is based on the Arabic word meaning “to be pure” (zaka). Purity is a key concept in Islamic religious thought and practice. It governs the performance of the other religious duties—prayer,

fasting, and the hajj, as well as the dietary laws. In regard to the act of giving zakat, the underlying principle is that such an act, done in kindness for the betterment of the needy or the community, purifies the giver and the giver’s property. Further- more, the Quran promises that believers who pay zakat will see an increase in their own prosperity (Q 30:39).

According to the sharia, payment of zakat is required of adult Muslims each year at the end of ramadan, the month of fasting. It is calculated on

the basis of one’s net income from lawful (halal) sources after expenses for food, clothing, and shelter for oneself and dependents have been paid. Traditionally, the tax has been assessed on agri- cultural yields, livestock production, possession of lawful merchandise, gold, silver, and cash. The general tax rate is 2.5 percent, but there are higher rates for minerals extracted from the ground, war booty, buried property belonging to people who have perished, and property salvaged from the sea. Based on the Quran and hadith, Muslim jurists have also identified those who qualify to receive alms: the hungry and the homeless, the ill, students, recent converts, slaves so that they can be freed, those who struggle “in the way of God,” travelers, and those needing assistance in repaying their debts.

Almsgiving became a religious duty after mUhammad established the first Muslim com-

munity in medina in 622. It was one of the first

obligations to be met by converts. The first serious conflict over apostasy occurred when converted

Arab tribes refused to pay zakat after Muhammad died in 632. As the Muslim empire grew, rulers and religious scholars systematized the rules govern- ing almsgiving, because this was the main form of taxation levied against Muslims for the well-being of the community. Details on how rigorously zakat laws were followed are lacking for much of Islam’s history. In modern times, Muslims often give alms privately without intervention of the state, and in many communities assistance with payment and calculating the amount due is available to them K  38  almsgiving

from zakat committees. There are even zakat calcu- lators available on the Internet. People may donate to needy individuals or to mosqUes, charitable

organizations, and educational institutions. Only a few modern nations, such as saUdi arabia, Kuwait,

Libya, pakistan, and sUdan, have attempted to

administer almsgiving through government agen- cies. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a number of Islamic charitable organizations connected with zakat have been investigated or closed down in the United States and abroad because of suspected links with with radical groups engaging in terrorist activities. Muslims living in the United States and Europe have had to look for other ways to fulfill their alms- giving obligations because of this.

Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiyar, Encyclopaedia of

Islamic Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chi-

cago: ABC International Group, 1996); Azim Nanji, “Ethics and Taxation: The Perspective of Islamic Tradi- tion.” Journal of Religious Ethics 13 (1985): 161–178.

alphabet

Since Islam is a religion found in many differ- ent cultures, its followers speak many different languages, which are written in several alphabets. The most important of these is the Arabic alpha- bet, consisting of 28 letters written as a script from right to left. This means that there is no separate printed form for individual Arabic let- ters, as there is in English; it also means that the shape of the letter can be affected by its position at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. All the letters are consonants, but three of them can also represent long vowels: a¯, ı¯, and u¯. There are no letters for the short vowels (a, i, and u); they are either not written, or they are represented by optional markings called diacritics written above and below the consonants. Historically, the Arabic alphabet evolved from ancient Semitic scripts that were used by people living in northern Arabia and syria. It gained widespread use only after the

appearance of Islam in the seventh century, how- ever. Nearly all of the most authoritative Islamic religious texts, including the Quran, were origi- nally written in the Arabic cursive script.

Through the centuries, as Islamic religion and civilization spread to new lands, native peoples began to adopt the Arabic language and use its alphabet to write their own languages. Not all of these people were Muslims; Middle Eastern Jews and Christians adopted both the Arabic language and alphabet. By the 10th century, Arabic letters were adapted to write the Persian language and then related dialects such as Kurdish and Pashto, as well as the Turkic languages. To do this, addi- tional consonants were required to represent sounds occurring in those languages but that do not occur in Arabic (for example, p as in pony, ch as in chair, and g as in game). Urdu, which is today the official language of pakistan, is based on

a Persianized form of the Arabic alphabet. Arabic letters have also been used to write languages spo- ken in medieval Spain, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Alongside the Roman alphabet, which is used to write English and other Western languages, the Arabic alphabet is one of the most widely used in the world today. tUrkey, one of the largest

Muslim countries in the Middle East, switched from the Arabic alphabet to the Roman in 1928, when its government was being reconstituted along strongly secular lines. However, the Arabic alphabet is still widely used in Arab countries, and (in its Persianized form) in iran, aFghanistan,

and Pakistan. Moreover, it has been successfully adapted for print media (newspapers, magazines, books, etc.) and the internet, so it continues to play an important role in the communication of religious and secular information, knowledge, and opinions in the modern world.

The Arabic alphabet is especially important in Islam because it was used for writing the words Muslims believe God revealed to mUhammad in

the seventh century. Most Muslims attempt to learn the Arabic letters so that they can read the qUran. Some 29 suras in the Quran begin with alphabet  39  J

letters written separately, and some suras even take their names from these letters, like suras Ta Ha (Q 20) and Ya Sin (Q 36). There has been much disagreement about what the letters mean, but some Muslims explain that their meaning is a mystery known only to God. Muslims also have assigned numerical value to individual letters. For example, many Muslims living in Asia have signs in their businesses and vehicles bearing the num- ber 786, which is the numerical sum of the letters in the phrase bismillah al-rahman al-rahim (In the name of God, the most compassionate and most merciful), known as the basmala. It is believed to

bring good fortune and divert the evil eye. Shii

and Sufi Muslims have a long tradition of inter- preting the secret meanings of Arabic letters. This can be seen in the interpretation of the the three letters alif-lam-mim that begin the second chapter of the Quran. Sufis believed the alif represented Allah, that the mim represented Muhammad, and that the lam represented Gabriel, the angel who acted as the emissary between God and Muham- mad in delivering the Quran. In some contexts, the calculation of the numerical values of letters has been used in numerology to foretell the future and write magic spells. This was known as jafr.

See also arabiclangUageandliteratUre; cal- ligraphy; persianlangUageandliteratUre; tUrk- ishlangUageandliteratUre.

Further reading: Kristin Brustad, Mahmoud al-Batal,

and Abbas Tonsi, Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters

and Sounds (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University

Press, 2001); Peter Daniels and W. Bright, eds., The

World’s Writing Systems (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1996); Gerhard Endress, An Introduction to Islam (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988); Annema- rie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975).