Conceptos de diseño

Republic of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal was born in Salonica, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He attended military schools in the Balkans, where Greek and Slavic nationalist movements were active, and went on to graduate from the military academy in istanbUl, the Ottoman capital. During his early

military appointments, he worked to organize opposition to the despotism of the Ottoman

sUltan Abdulhamid, though he was not directly

involved in the Young Turk revolution of 1908. He gained military fame as commander of the Turkish troops that repelled the invasion of Allied forces at Gallipoli in 1915.

Dissatisfied with the Ottoman regime’s compli- ance with the British, who occupied Istanbul after K  68  Assassins

World War I, Mustafa Kemal left Istanbul in 1919 to gather support for a resistance movement in Anatolia, eventually settling in Ankara, where the Grand National Assembly was opened in 1920. When Turkish troops under Mustafa Kemal’s com- mand defeated the Greek troops that had invaded western Anatolia in 1921, the nationalist forces earned enough bargaining power to reject the terms of the Sèvres treaty (the World War I peace agreement that would have divided the country) and to abolish the Ottoman sultanate, which had reigned for 600 years. In 1923, a new treaty ensur- ing Turkey’s borders was agreed to at Lausanne (in Switzerland), and the republic was proclaimed with Mustafa Kemal as its president.

Mustafa Kemal’s regime was autocratic, which allowed him to push through a series of reforms designed to rebuild tUrkey as a modern, Western,

secular nation. In 1924, he abolished the caliph- ate, which Ottoman sultans had assumed since

the 16th century, and closed religious schools. He closed the dervish lodges, which were seen

as threatening to the secular regime, and banned the wearing of religious dress outside of places of worship. He had a new civil code adopted, bring- ing equal rights to Women. He had the Arabic alphabet replaced with a modified Latin alphabet

and encouraged the replacement of Arabic and Persian words in the language with “pure” Turkish words, even if they had to be invented.

In 1934, a law was passed requiring all citizens to adopt a surname, and Mustafa Kemal chose for himself that of Ataturk, meaning “Father of the Turks.” Ataturk died in 1938 in Istanbul after having served four terms as president, but his legacy has continued until today. His mausoleum in Ankara continues to be visited regularly; his image appears on every banknote and in every public building, and his statues stand prominently in every city and town. Boulevards, universities, towns, and Istanbul’s international airport are named after him. The ideas he brought to frui- tion—constituting an ideology known as Kemal- ism—also continue to make up the dominant ideology of the Turkish state.

See also ottomandynasty; secUlarism.

Mark Soileau Further reading: Lord Kinross, Atatürk: The Rebirth

of a Nation (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964);

Andrew Mango, Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of

Modern Turkey (New York: Overlook Press, 1999).

Aurangzeb

The great grandson of akbar (r. 1556–1605) and

son of Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58), Aurangzeb came to power during a bloody civil war for succession in 1657. After killing all of his brothers, his rivals

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Juan E. Campo)

for power, and imprisoning his father, he secured control in northern india and engaged in a series

of ongoing military campaigns to conquer inde- pendent kingdoms in the south. When he died in 1701, his empire stretched from the Himalayas in the north to the southern edge of the Deccan Pla- teau and from Bengal in the east to aFghanistan in

the west. His successors were unable to maintain control over such a vast territory, so the Mughal Empire began to break up into smaller states again after his death, setting the stage for the onset of British colonial influence in the mid-1700s.

Aurangzeb is remembered for his religious conservativism and his intolerant attitude toward his non-Muslim subjects, in contrast to Akbar and other Mughal rulers. He promoted strict adher- ence to the sharia, enhanced the influence of the

Sunni Ulama in the court, and actively encouraged conversion to islam. One of his most important

contributions to the Muslim community was his sponsorship of the Fatawa-i Alamgiri (completed in 1675), a comprehensive compilation of Sunni legal rulings. His religious conservativism had serious drawbacks, however. Imperial patronage of mUsic, art, and architectUre decreased, and even though

Hindus continued to serve as officials and allies of the Mughal government, their status declined. Active opposition to Aurangzeb, which included Muslims, grew as a result of his destruction of Hindu temples, the imposition of special taxes and restrictions, and his persecution of the growing Sikh community in northern India, which resulted in the martyrdom of one of their leaders, Guru Tegh Bahadur (d. 1675). The legacy of Aurangzeb’s policies has continued to fuel Hindu-Muslim ten- sions in South Asia since independence and parti- tion in 1947.

See also dara shikoh; hindUism and islam;

mUghaldynasty.

Further reading: Gordon Johnson, Cultural Atlas of

India (New York: Facts On File, 1996); John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1993).

Australia

The continent of Australia joins neighboring islands of indonesia and neW zealand in demar-

cating the southwestern extent of the Pacific Ocean and the eastern extent of the Indian Ocean. Australia is separated from Indonesia by the Ara- tura Sea and from New Zealand by the Tasmania Sea. Also part of the country of Australia is the large island of Tasmania, off the continent’s south- east coast. The country has a total land area of some 2,967,100 square miles.

The Aboriginal peoples, Australia’s original inhabitants, settled the land as early as 40,000 years ago. They created a diversity of cultures across the continent. They seem to have migrated from Southeast Asia. Europeans made note of Australia’s existence in the 17th century, but only in 1770 did Captain James Cook (1728–79) claim it for Great Britain. British settlement began less than two decades later, the first settlement being the infamous penal colony at Botany Bay. Over the next two centuries, the descendants of British settlers became the dominant force in Australia, making up two-thirds of its 19 million inhabitants. The remaining third constitutes an extremely diverse ethnic spectrum that includes many people from former British colonies from India and Southeast Asia.

The original Muslims in Australia were from aFghanistan, men employed as camel drivers.

Many settled in central Australia, and the con- temporary town of Alice Springs was at one time referred to by local residents as mecca. That

original Afghan community did not perpetuate itself and eventually died out. (Some Muslims point to evidence of even earlier Muslims coming to Australia from malaysia and Indonesia to settle

in fishing villages along the northern coast.) Over the next decades, the number of Muslims grew slowly and fluctuated widely. From a low point in the early 1930s (around 2,000), the community reached more than 10,000 by 1970. Since that time, it has grown at a much more rapid rate. It was approaching 150,000 by the time of the 1991 K  70  Australia

national census and today includes some esti- mated 315,000 residents. It constitutes about 1.5 percent of Australia’s 21 million citizens.

The Muslim community has an extremely diverse ethnic makeup, its members deriving from more than 50 countries, including those in west- ern Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. The largest group of Australian Muslims comes from Lebanon and tUrkey. Its members have

concentrated in the major urban centers in the southeastern part of the continent. Through the last decades of the 20th century, regional councils of Muslims were formed, leading to the creation of the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils, the primary national Islamic organization. The growth of the community has allowed a variety of regional and national organizations, such as the United Muslim Women Association, to emerge.

The Australian Federation appoints a titular spiritual head of the Islamic community who bears the title mUFti of Australia and New Zea-

land. The current mufti, Egyptian-born Taj Al- Din Hamid Abd Allah Al-Hilali (b. 1941), has become well known for his outspokenness, espe- cially in his defense of the Muslim community in the wake of recent bombings in the United States, Bali, and London, the commitment of Australian troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, and government efforts to suppress possible terrorist acts in Australia.

Nationally, Muslims have concentrated on the education of the next generation and where pos- sible have opened Islamic schools for youths at the primary and secondary levels. Leaders have expressed concern about the secular atmosphere in the country and laws promoting the liberation of youths in their mid-teens.

Today there are more than 100 mosqUes and prayer halls in Australia. Most are Sunni in

orientation, with no one legal school or ethnic membership dominating. The largest number of mosques and Islamic schools are found in the Syd- ney and Melbourne urban areas. Al Zahra College,

the first Islamic institution of higher learning, is located in Sydney.

See also eUrope; United states; West aFrica.

J. Gordon Melton Further reading: A. H. Johns and A. Saeed, “Muslims

in Australia: The Building of a Community.” In Muslim

Minorities in the West, Visible and Invisible, edited by

Yvonne Haddad and Jane I. Smith, 192–216 (Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press, 2002); Abdullah Saeed,

Australian Muslims: Their Beliefs, Practices and Institu- tions (Melbourne: Department of Immigration and

Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Australian Mul- ticultural Foundation, University of Melbourne, 2004). Available online. URL: www.amf.net.au/PDF/religion- CulturalDiversity/Resource_Manual.pdf. Accessed on December 27, 2005; Wafia Omer and Kirsty Allen, “The Muslims in Australia.” In A Yearbook of Australian Reli-

gious Organizations, edited by Peter Bentley and Philip

J. Hughes, 114–115 (Kew, Victoria: Christian Research Association, 1997).

authority

Authority is the basis by which power is legiti- mately used to bring about compliance and obedi- ence. In secular terms, it is often connected with how leaders and governments justify their right not only to exist, but also to rule others with their consent. In a hereditary monarchy, for example, authority is vested in the person of the king and his dynasty. In a liberal democracy, authority

is vested in the people, who then consent to be legally subject to those they elect to governmen- tal office. In either case, the exercise of authority displaces the need to rely upon only brute force to obtain compliance. Max Weber (d. 1920), one of the founders of modern sociology, identified three basic types of authority that are generally accepted by modern scholars: 1) traditional authority based on the sanctity of the past, 2) charismatic author- ity involving the sanctity of individuals, and 3) rational-legal authority involving bureaucratic organizations. These three ideal types of authority

apply both to secular and religious social institu- tions, and they help us to understand the complex networks of authority that have formed in the history of islam and that are evident in Islamicate

societies today.

Sacred authority in Islam begins with God, the qUran (God’s word), and mUhammad (the

conveyer of God’s word). The Quran declares that God is lord of all creation (Q 1:2) and that

he holds sovereignty over the heavens and the earth (Q 5:40). Humans, therefore, are destined to be his “servants” or “worshippers.” Indeed, the human acknowledgment of God’s authority is expressed in Islam’s Five pillars, which are

collectively called ibadat, “duties of worship/ser- vitude.” The Quran alludes to its own authority as a sacred scripture when it states “That is the book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-fearing” (Q 2:2). As the “command” (amr) revealed by the “lord of the worlds” (Q 56:80), the Quran is connected with the qualities of divine sovereignty, such as nobility (Q 56:77), glory (Q 50:1), might (Q 15:87), and wisdom (Q 36:2). In

theology, the Quran is regarded as God’s speech

and is one of his eternal attributes. Muslims turn to it for guidance with respect to matters of belief and religious practice, and it is the first of the four roots of religious law (fiqh). Among humans,

God’s authority (sUltan) is entrusted above all

to his prophets and messengers, the recipients and transmitters of God’s word (Q 11:96) whom people must obey (Q 4:64). It is Muhammad in particular who is to be followed, for the Quran declares, “Whoever obeys the messenger obeys God” (Q 4:80). His authority is based on his per- sonal charisma, but it also involves the authority of a sacred tradition of prophets that reaches back to Adam, the first human being, and the creation. Aside from the Quran itself, Muhammad’s author- ity in the early Muslim community is reflected in a separate document known as the Constitution of medina, which stipulates that if the early com-

munity is ever in disagreement, it should refer the matter to God and to Muhammad. The long-term

importance of Muhammad as an authority for the Muslim community was assured with the collec- tion of hadiths about his sayings and actions and the establishment of Muhammad’s sUnna (rules

for belief, worship, and moral conduct) as a basis for law in the ninth century. Inheritance of Muhammad’s personal charisma was to become an important aspect of Muslim rulers’ author- ity, as it was for the Abbasids, the Fatimids, and the contemporary monarchies of morocco and

Jordan. Among the various divisions of the Shia,

descent from Muhammad through Ali and Fatima is a necessary qualification of the divinely guided Imams, people the Shia have regarded as the ideal rulers and religious figures for Muslims.

With the passage of time and the rise of Islamic empires, the networks of authority became more complex. The Quran acknowledges this complex- ity when it states, “obey God, the messenger, and those in authority (amr) among you” (Q 4:59). Though Muhammad’s successors, the caliphs, first saw themselves mainly as tribal chieftains, after the rise of the Islamic empire they claimed primary authority in both spiritual and worldly affairs. This can be seen in the formal titles they took: “God’s deputy” (khalifat Allah), rather than “deputy/successor of God’s messenger” (khalifat rasul Allah), or even “commander (amir) of the faithful” and “God’s authority (sultan) on earth.” Several of the early Abbasid caliphs (eighth to ninth centuries) attempted to claim the exclusive right to decide matters of religious doctrine. By the 10th century, in the face of growing challenges to their authority in religious matters, rulers had negotiated a division of legitimate power with the

Ulama, the experts in Islamic law and tradition.

Caliphs, sultans, and kings exercised authority in worldly affairs, while the ulama claimed mastery in the realm of religion. The actual division of labor between the rulers and ulama was rarely so clear, however, for the rulers were expected to uphold and enforce sharia as well as patronize the

ulama. On the other hand, the ulama, in addition to interpreting the sharia, could exercise moral

authority over rulers by either upholding or con- testing their legitimacy. Only in the 20th century did the ulama ever act to overthrow a ruler and replace him with one of their own—the establish- ment of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayatol- lah rUhollah khomeini in 1979 was the exception

rather than the rule.

Select Women also held positions of author-

ity among both rulers and religious scholars. Women in the ruling elites were occasionally involved in making decisions of state and influ- encing the selection of rulers, and they would also make donations to fund mosques and reli- gious schools. Women from scholarly families even became famous as teachers, particularly in the science of hadith during the Middle Ages. Muhammad’s wife aisha (d. ca. 678) is an exem-

plary figure, because she is remembered for her leading role in the political and religious affairs of her time.

In addition to the rulers and the ulama, Sufi brotherhoods also developed their own concepts of authority. The Sufis consider themselves to be disciples of a master Sufi, known as a shaykh or

pir. This Sufi master is to be obeyed absolutely because of the power of his personal charisma, or holiness, but his authority is also recognized because of his inclusion within a spiritual lin- eage of saints that links him to aliibn abi talib

(d. 661) or abU bakr (d. 634) and ultimately to

Muhammad. Recognition of the master’s status is expressed in Sufi rituals and prayers. Sainthood is a related type of charismatic authority recog- nized in sUFism, where even though the saint

was thought to be completely obedient to God, he or she was also God’s intimate friend (wali)

and an embodiment of God’s wisdom and bless- ing power in the world. There are many women counted among the saints, but as Sufi masters, they are a minority. In any case, the Sufis had to negotiate their own spheres of authority with those of the rulers and the ulama; they were often tied to both by bonds of kinship, loyalty, and patronage.

Since the mid-18th century, the networks of authority that formed during the Middle Ages have been fragmented by a variety of histori- cal forces. Two of the decisive forces for change were the breakdown of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires that once ruled millions of people between the Mediterranean and the Bay of Bengal, and the invasion of Muslim lands by European colonial empires. The major shifts in political power caused by these changes led in turn to profound changes in the traditional military, political, legal, educational, and eco- nomic institutions. The authority of the ulama became increasingly circumscribed as Western- style institutions and values were adopted by reform-minded Muslims and colonial administra- tors. Moreover, the introduction of the printing press to Muslim lands during the 19th century not only made it possible for the transmission of new ideas and visions to more people, but it also enabled more Muslims to become literate and consult their own sacred scriptures, commentar- ies, histories, literature, and books of religious law than ever before. The ulama had to contend with emerging national aspirations among Mus- lims and imported Western secularist ideals, while at the same time debating with ordinary Muslims who wanted to consult and interpret their religious heritage on their own. Later, the introduction of broadcast media and the internet accelerated these processes. The overall result is that multiple and frequently contending notions of authority are at play in Muslim communities, not always with the best results. In some cases, sacred authority has been mobilized to counteract and resist Western involvement in Muslim coun- tries; in other cases, it has been manipulated by tyrants and Muslim radical groups to consolidate power and suppress pluralistic and democratic forces. The result is the creation of authoritarian regimes that hold a number of Muslim countries