20078599slam As Special System

Islam as a Special World-System
Author(s): John Obert Voll

Source: Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Fall, 1994), pp. 213-226
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20078599
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Islam as a Special World-System*

JOHN OBERT
University
VOLL
of New Hampshire
a civilization,
a way of life, and
as a religion,
a
other
result of the confu
many
things. Some of this is simply
Islam
sion created
the same term for different
As
by using
phenomena.
Marshall
noted
twenty years ago, the terms Islam and
Hodgson
are used "casually
Islamic
both for what we may call religion
and
is identified
for the overall

associated
with
the
society and culture
historically
is also created
to Islam the
Confusion
religion."1
by attributing
to be generic
characteristics
of terms that are thought
but in fact
or historical
have distinctive
cultural
This is sometimes
referents.
in discussions
clear
that speak of Islam as a "religion"
and may
also be the case when we speak of "Islamic
It may be
civilization."
to ask whether
useful
the complex
of social relations
that is often
can be most
called
Islamic
civilization
conceptualized
effectively
as a civilization
or
for purposes
of world
historical
analysis
terms.
whether
there are more useful
identifying
on a
The current
transformation
of major
social
formations
our under
to reexamine
scale provides
the opportunity
global
of the nature of some of the basic units.
In particular,
it
standing
opens
the way
for examining
the large-scale
networks
of relations
*
This paper has benefited
from the comments
of Immanuel
in dis
Wallerstein
a presentation
cussions
at the meeting
of an early version
of the New
following
a pre
Historical
Association,
19 October
1991; from discussions
England
following
at the Center
sentation
version
of a revised
for Middle
Eastern
and
Islamic
20 October
of Bergen,
of
Studies,
1992; and from the comments
University
Norway,
an anonymous
reader
for the Journal
of World History.
1
G. S. Hodgson,
Marshall
The Venture
of
3 vols.
of Islam,
(Chicago:
University
Press,
1974), 1:57.
Chicago
Journal of World History, Vol. 5, No. 2
? 1994 by University
of Hawaii Press
213
JOURNAL
2I4
OF WORLD
FALL
HISTORY,
1994
I
interactions.
units of contemporary
that are the major
global
a well-known
to start with
of global
propose
reconceptualization
articu
the world-system
that have been
interactions,
concepts
can
and to see if this framework
lated by Immanuel
Wallerstein,
more
and
define
the
Islamic
entity
clearly.
usefully
help
global
of
explanation
theory is not a simple, monolithic
World-system
as initially
Even
defined
and society.
human
by
global
history
a complex
to under
it was
cluster
of approaches
Wallerstein,
a wide variety
The world-system
of experiences.
concep
standing
different
has now become
the basis for many
tualization
perspec
as the articles
in issue after issue of the
tives and interpretations,
Recent
Center
articles
Review
Braudel
illustrate.
of the Fernand
Amin
Andre
Gunder
Frank
and a
in that journal
Samir
and
by
all suggest
the
retrospective
by Wallerstein
thought-provoking
this
luxuriant
of
perspective.2
productivity
in a
it is difficult
this very broad
field of concepts,
Within
to the full relevance
to do justice
of world-system
short discussion
to an understanding
historical
of the Islamic
experience.
theory
one
of Waller
I
formulations
the
take
of
Therefore,
aspect
early
its implications
for the study of Islamic history.
for
I consider
the implications
of Islamic history
I
Islamic
because
think
that
the
experience
theory,
a different
a special
case that suggests
way to formu
stein and explore

At the same time
world-system
represents
late
analysis.
world-system
In his
lerstein
early
argued
thus
far
there
have
most
system
of
in which
does
convenience
area
the
tended either
the
peculiarity
. .. and
over
not
exist
and
for want
were
to be converted
of
the modern
there
those
varieties
systems
the
latter.
highly
world-system
such
of
world-sys
system
political
in which
such
single
For
all, of the
space.
we
are using
the term
. . . Prior
to the modern
structures
unstable
into empires
Wal
approach,
is a single
all, or virtually
of a better
term,
to describe
"world-economy"
world-economies
era,
two
existed
only
tems: world-empires,
over
of the world-system
presentation
that
or to disintegrate.
that
which
It is
a world-economy
versus
the Modern
"The Ancient
Samir
Amin,
Capitalist
World-Systems
Intro
"A Theoretical
Review
Frank,
14 (1991): 349-85; Andre Gunder
World-System,"
Review
to 5,000 Years
of World
duction
13 (1990): 155-248; and
History,"
System
Review
The Second
Immanuel
Phase,"
13
Wallerstein,
Analysis:
"World-Systems
in "A Plea
for World
these
issues
has also discussed
System
(1990): 287-93. Frank
2 (1991): 1-28; and
in "The Thirteenth-Century
Journal
History
of World
History,"
1 (1990): 249-56.
A Review
Journal
World
of World History
Essay,"
System:
Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

has
into
for
survived
a
form
500
world-empire.
of economic
and
years
. . .This
organization
215
yet
has
peculiarity
called
not
come
to be
is the
political
transformed
side
of
the
capitalism.3
the differences
between
modern
is appealing
both
for its clarity
the history
of the major world
civili
and
zations.
The alternations
between
unifications
grand
imperial
in China,
and politico-economic
India, the Middle
disintegration
are
and
Western
of
the world histor
East,
parts
important
Europe
ical narrative.
The pattern
described
of incipient
by Wallerstein
or dis
in imperial unifications
world-economies
that result either
seems
to fit the history
in the
East
of the Middle
integrations
era. There
is the period
of the great
Islamic
unification
imperial
This
presentation
general
premodern
world-systems
for what we know about
and
of
in the seventh
and
conquests
century
and Abbasid
the Umayyad
This imperial
caliphates.
is part of the long line of great world-empires
unification
that
Eastern
and Mediterranean
the Middle
brought
world-economy
under
the control of one or two major
(or world-economies)
impe
rial systems.
This series began as early as the Phoenician-Greek
the Arab-Muslim
begun by
continued
by
Persian
network
through
Alexander
the Hellenistic
the Great
of
b.c.e.
seventh
and
stretched
century
state system
created
of
by the conquests
to the later Parthian-Sasanid
and Roman
the
Byzantine
empires.4
account
The standard
notes
the disintegration
of the Islamic
under
the
Abbasid
rulers
the
tenth
and elev
of
system
imperial
ce.
a
net
enth centuries
and its replacement
decentralized
by
or sultans,
states ruled by military
work of smaller
commanders,
as the effective
who
the imperial
rulers of Mus
replaced
caliphs
lim areas by the twelfth
The final act in this process
of
century.
was
the destruction
of Baghdad,
the Abbasid
capi
disintegration
accounts
in 1258. Journalistic
forces
tal, by Mongol
speak of the
era of "backwardness
and stagnation
that afflicted
the Moslem
. . . and the renaissance
world
between
the fall of Baghdad
of the
terms of his influential
In the scholarly
twentieth
book,
century."5
3
Immanuel
Academic
4A
Press,
Wallerstein,
1974-
The Modern
World-System,
3 vols,
to date
(San Diego:
), 1:348.
clear summary
of this long tradition
of cultural
description
is presented
in Amin,
"The Ancient
unity
imperial
World-Systems
ern Capitalist
pp. 357-59.
World-System,"
5
W.
Thomas
Islam
York:
Lippman,
(New
Understanding
Library,
1982), p. 78.
and sometimes
versus
the Mod
New
American
JOURNAL
2l6
OF WORLD
FALL
HISTORY,
1994
The Arabs
in History,
notes
Bernard
Lewis
that at this time took
the "transformation
of the Islamic Near East
from a com
place
one
an
to
extensive
mercial,
which,
economy
monetary
despite
a quasi
and important
and transit
trade, was
foreign
internally
on
feudal economy,
based
subsistence
agriculture."6
in some very specific
This gloomy
is correct
and lim
picture
The imperial
ited ways.
unity of the Islamic world was
political
of the thirteenth
century,
destroyed
by the middle
areas
commer
the effectiveness
of the urban-based
was significantly
In the terms of
reduced.
economy
in the absence
of an effective
the old
Wallerstein,
world-empire,
East seems to have disintegrated.
of the Middle
At
world-economy
state that the history
this point one might
of the premod
simply
ern Islamic world-system
to bear out Wallerstein's
for
appears
irretrievably
and in many
cial monetary
mulation.
of the Islamic world

the standard
fol
However,
gloomy picture
not
is
the
of
the
conquest
lowing
Mongol
Baghdad
only possible
as the works
H. McNeill,
Mar
like William
of scholars
picture,
Ira Lapidus,
shall G. S. Hodgson,
and others
show. The gloomy
situa
the observer
does not prepare
for the actual world
picture
at
tion
the beginning
the
of
sixteenth
As McNeill
century.
has
noted,
so accustomed
are
We
point
sion
the
that
the
[in
the
lapped
to regard
scope
extraordinary
period
later
ce.],
1000-1500
of
expansion
history
and
from
force
which
of
a European
this
Islamic
and
prefigured
western
vantage
often
Europe,
expan
over
escapes
Yet an intelligent and informed observer of the fifteenth

the conclusion
could
that Islam,
century
hardly have avoided
crude society of the
rather than the remote and still comparatively
to dominate
the world in the fol
European Far West, was destined
attention.
lowing
centuries.1
era of stagnation,
the size of the Islamic world
in the days of the glories
it had been
from what
the sixteenth
the
middle
of
century,
By
caliphs.
states
in
Medi
had
been
established
the
imperial
In this so-called
doubled
virtually
of the Abbasid
major Muslim
terranean
world,
6
Bernard
Press,
Press,
Iran, South
Lewis,
The Arabs
1993), p. 174.
7
H. McNeill,
William
1963), p. 485
(emphasis
The
Asia,
in History,
Rise
of
Central
rev.
the West
ed.
Asia,
(New
(Chicago:
and
York:
sub-Saharan
Oxford
University
University
of Chicago
added).
Voll:
Islam
as a Special
World-System
217
The power
and glory of the Ottoman,
Africa.
Safavid,
Mughal,
more
than
the emerging
matched
and Songhai
Uzbek,
empires
the smaller
Iberian
of the day and outshone
empires
dynastic
was
states of Western
In
Islam
addition,
Europe.
actively winning
in Southeast
converts
the boundaries
of these empires
beyond
and elsewhere.
Asia, southeastern
Europe,
not
in fact, dynamic
and expanding,
The world
of Islam was,
or disintegrating.
As a global unit, however,
static and stagnating,
to define
terms of world-systems
in the standard
it is difficult
the
It stretched
territories
from the inner Asian
of the Manchu
in the Philip
in
China
and
small
of
the
sultanate
Manila
empire
to
in
communities
Bosnia
the
Muslim
and sub
pines
growing
the unit was,
it was not a world-empire
Saharan
Africa. Whatever
ory.
and had no prospect

and
disintegrating
one. At the same time, it was not

of becoming
Neither
of the alternatives
collapsing.
posed
seems to be applica
Wallerstein
for
by
premodern
world-systems
in world
in the period
ble to the Islamic
entity
just before
history
modern
times.
Part of the problem may
lie in the way we look at this Islamic
as
it
in
the
centuries
the collapse
of
entity
emerged
following
in the tenth century.
effective
The term
Abbasid
power
imperial
as
most
is
in
used
"classical
civilization,
(or medieval)
frequently
term because
Islamic civilization."
This is an awkward
it implies a
to other historic
civilizational
As
coherence
similar
civilizations.
as
was
or
the
Muslim
Mid
long
community
primarily
exclusively
recent phase of the
it could be thought of as the most
in
In the
tradition
of
civilization
the
Middle
East.
long-standing
half-millennium
after
the Abbasid
Islam
be
however,
collapse,
came an important
in
societies
outside
the
Mid
many
component
dle Eastern,
dle East.
tra
like India, themselves
Some,
represented
significant
was
not
and this civilizational
of civilization,
identity
eliminated
of Islam. As a result, by the six
by the introduction
teenth century,
the Islamic entity was an intercivilizational
entity,
not an autonomous
this expanding
"civilization."
Islamic
Further,
areas where
structures
the complex
urban
entity now included
ditions
were not the dominant

of traditions
of civilization
characteristic
modes
The Islamic
of social organization.
included
both
entity
and pastoral
communities.
urban-based
nomadic
This Islamic
of interacting
entity was a vast network
peoples
and groups, with
common
elements
communities
and yet some sufficiently

to speak of these diverse
to add
I hasten
of "the Islamic world."
considerable
diversity
so that it is possible
as being
part
JOURNAL
2l8
OF WORLD
HISTORY,
FALL
I994
that the problem

the "unity
and diversity"
of understanding
one for
is a major
found within
the Islamic world
and continuing
as
to think of this Islamic world
scholars
of Islam.8 It is tempting
a premodern
terms
In
Wallerstein's
of
defini
world-system.
early
to see this vast network
of interacting
tion, it is possible
peoples
. . . that has boundaries,
as "a social
struc
and groups
system
member
and
coherence."9
rules
of
tures,
groups,
legitimation,
to be
The real foundation
of this world-system
does not appear
a world-economy
sense of the term as used
in the
in the precise
sense of a self
The primary
of Wallerstein
and others.
analyses
of
the
and legiti
the
boundaries
and
contained
meaning
identity
not
in
world
of
lie
mations
the
do
trade, produc
predominantly
over
In the current
debates
of
the nature
tion, and exchange.
as
or
not
is one
issues
there
whether
and such
world-systems
over 5,000 years,
as Frank argues, most
extending
are
in the discourse
of world-systems
theory
people
engaging
and economic
forces.
world
about the material
speaking
a foundation
ties does bind the Muslim
of economic
Perhaps
the Middle
and
communities
of West
Central
Asia,
East,
Africa,
little examination
Asia. Unfortunately,
there has been
Southeast
in the centuries
world
fol
the Muslim
of the trade patterns
within
Recent
research
the Abbasid
by Janet L. Abu
collapse.
lowing
can be. She presents
a
such studies
shows how important
Lughod
world-system
to
of "a long-standing,
'world-system,'
globally-integrated
that this
had finally
attached
itself." She notes
had three or four core
of the thirteenth
century
world-system
or imperial
areas and states
that "no single cultural,
economic,
Indeed, a wide variety of cultural
systems
system was hegemonic.
most
of them organized
coexisted
and cooperated,
very differ
It is noteworthy
that the trade of the three
ently from the West."10
in Abu-Lughod's
"core" zones
East,
(the Middle
major
analysis
to be
tended
Central Asia and China, and the Indian Ocean basin)
or Muslim
communities.
dominated
groups
by Muslim-controlled
picture
which
Europe
E. von Grune
collection
of essays
the classic
by Gustave
example,
of Chicago
and
in
Muslim
Civilization
University
Unity
Variety
(Chicago:
"Consen
C. Hess,
review
article
Press,
by Andrew
1955); and the thought-provoking
sus or Conflict:
American
Review
Historical
of Islamic
The Dilemma
Historians,"
81 (1976): 788-99.
9
World
Modern
Wallerstein,
1:347.
System,
10Janet L.
Review
the Premodern
World
System,"
"Restructuring
Abu-Lughod,
see Abu-Lughod,
European
Hege
13 (1990): 275-76. For her full presentation,
Before
a.d. 1250-1350
The World
Press,
mony:
1989).
University
(New York: Oxford
System,
See,
for
baum,
219
it was not trade or economic

that gave this
However,
exchange
or
its
basic
Islamic
cohesion.
entity
identity
In a recent
noted
that scholars
article, Wallerstein
dealing
with world-systems
face
the
of "elaboration
of
analysis
challenge
than
that
of
the
other
capitalist
world-systems
world-economy."11
I suggest
that to understand
the premodern
entity of the Islamic
as a world-system,
to define world-systems
it is necessary
world
in ways
to the economic
confined
and mate
that are not as closely
as the conceptualizations
rial dimensions
of history
of almost
all
For
insists
that
scholars.
Wallerstein
the
world-systems
example,
a world-system
must
and boundaries
networks
that define
be
to material
economic
related
and
the
of
dimensions
exchanges
social
systems.12
Islamic world
definition
boundary
had a dimension
of social
and
legitimation
it possible
that made
for someone
like the
to journey
Ibn Battuta,
in the fourteenth
traveler,
great Muslim
to
and
remain
from
North
Africa
China
century
yet
largely within
"the cultural
boundaries
of what Muslims
called
the Dar al-Islam
or Abode
can be seen as a special
of Islam."13 This Dar al-Islam
a
of
human
of Wil
group, using the definition
example
large-scale
The
to all groups,
liam H. McNeill:
is a pat
"What is common
surely,
tern of communication
among members,
sufficiently
frequent
as to minimize
and sufficiently
standardized
and maxi
surprises
so far as
mize
between
and experience
congruence
expectation
encounters
within
the group
This pattern
itself are concerned."14
in the Islamic world
is not primarily
based
means
or
coordination
of
of
of
upon exchange
production,
goods,
a large network
on
of economic
activities.
it
is
built
the
Instead,
sources
shared
of the Islamic
which
the basis
experience,
provide
for mutually
discourse
all
who
them
among
intelligible
identify
selves as Muslims
within
the Dar al-Islam.
One can view
the world
of Islam as a large, special
type of
sense
in
of
in
term
the
which
that
is used
discourse,"
"community
of
communication
11
Wallerstein,
12
Discussions
tion,
19October
13Ross E.
teenth Century
14
William
(1986): 215. For
"World-Systems
at the plenary
1991.
Dunn,
The Adventures
(Berkeley:
H. McNeill,
his
for world
historical
Five Years,"
Journal
University
Analysis:
session
of
The
Second
the New
Phase,"
England
p. 291.
Historical
A Muslim
Traveler
of Ibn Battuta,
of California
Press,
1986), p. 6.
Associa
of the Four
10
for World
Review
Concepts
"Organizing
History,"
of the problems
of defining
units
basic
appropriate
see also McNeill,
"The Rise of the West after Twenty
analysis,
1 (1990): 1-21.
of World History
discussions
220
JOURNAL
OF WORLD
HISTORY,
FALL
1994
as well as
"Discourse
subsumes
the written
by Robert Wuthnow:
or rit
the verbal,
the formal as well as the informal,
the gestural
as the conceptual.
com
It occurs,
ual as well
within
however,
sense of the word:
in the broadest
munities
communities
of com
of interpreters
and critics,
and
of audiences
peting
producers,
actors
and of patrons
and other
who
consumers,
significant
itself. It is only in these concrete
the subjects
of discourse
mean
communities
becomes
and
that discourse
living
breathing
or
communication
of
discourse
This
pattern
ingful."15
provides
as a social system or human
Dar al-Islam
the basis for identifying
and rules of
structures,
boundaries,
coherence,
group possessing
become
legitimation.
The
Islamic
between
between
discourse
urban-based
the different
was
able
and
to
cross
the
societies
boundaries
and those
in the Afro
pastoral
agrarian
traditions
of civilization
major
Eurasian
and organizational
landmass.
Networks
of personal
sense of corporate,
commu
at least a minimal
created
interaction
vast
in
nal
the
modern
The
emerging
identity
world-system.
is the "capitalist
described
world
world-system
by Wallerstein
a
structure
distinctive
and
identified
of
system,"
by
production
to
the
Muslims
be
said
have
created
exchange.
Similarly,
might
set of
the "Islamic
identified
world-system,"
by a distinctive
for
the
of
human
definition
relation
sociomoral
proper
symbols
is an "eco
world-system
ships. I am not saying that the capitalist
a
one.
is
nomic"
and
the
Islamic
system
world-system
"religious"
am
are
I
both
that
Rather,
comprehensive
relatively
suggesting
even though
as world-systems,
the
social systems
that can qualify
are drawn
from different
characteristics
primary
identifying
dimensions
of the social system as a whole.
The emerging
of ca. 1000-1800
Islamic world-system
presents
some interesting
in
which may be helpful
of
definition,
problems
to elaborate
other
than
that
modern
of
the effort
world-systems
I suggest
that the early Islamic
impe
capitalism.
community?the
rial community
and the Abbasids
from the sev
of the Umayyads
to the mid-tenth
of
the standard
pattern
century?followed
was
The
Muslim
classical
development.
caliphate
world-system
an important
successor
state to the "universal
of the
empires"
As
the
Persians
Alexander
Great.
established
tradition
and
the
by
enth
15
Robert
University
Communities
Wuthnow,
Press,
1989), p. 16.
of Discourse
(Cambridge,
Mass.:
Harvard
221
the collapse
of the Middle
the world-empire
system disintegrated,
to be following
Eastern world-economy
suit.
seemed
If the premodern
held
model
true, one would
world-systems
see
a systemwide
to
the
of
factors
expect
providing
disintegration
sense of cohesion
or shared
In
this was
terms,
identity.
political
a
as
of
the
claimed
the
title of
case,
variety
dynasties
clearly
to the
caliph, and even the fiction of loyalty to a single "successor
sense
commu
the
of
However,
Prophet"
disappeared.
although
its form and organizational
expres
nity-connectedness
changed
of legitimation
sion, it did not disappear.
New-style
organizations
were
not directly
and identity
which
upon
emerged,
dependent
or state system. These were
structure
in
the political
elaborations
concrete
and symbols
social forms of Islamic
concepts
providing
a sociomoral
communal
foundation
for transregional
identity.
can be de
This
transformation
of the Islamic world-system
scribed by paraphrasing
words
Wallerstein's
the dis
concerning
tinctiveness
of the modern
He
"It
is the
noted:
world-system.
a
modern
of
the
that
has
world-system
peculiarity
world-economy
to be transformed
survived
for 500 years and yet has not come
into a world-empire?a
is
that
the secret
its
of
peculiarity
a
can
statement
similar
that
be
made
about
suggest
strength."161
the Islamic world-system
since 1000 ce.: It is the peculiarity
of the
Islamic
that a world-society
survived
for almost
world-system
1000 years
a
and yet has not become
transformed
into either
or a world-economy?a
that is the secret
world-empire
peculiarity
to
of its strength
and ability
survive.
era had distinc
The new Islamic world-system
of the post-1000
tive organizational
characteristics
that contrast
with
the tradi
In the world-empire
tional Islamic world-empire.
state, personal
not to become
took many
forms but tended
institutiona
piety
lized. Respected
led
lives and established
what
exemplary
figures
is now called Sufism.
For the first five hundred
years of Islamic
was a mood
of pious
and often ascetic
Sufism
devotion
history,
the lives and teachings
of highly
individuals.
respected
the effective
of
did this
collapse
imperial unity, however,
come
to
in
tradition
be
devotional
manifested
the great
social
are the brotherhoods
called
the tariqahs, which
of
organizations
reflecting
Not until
every Muslim
society.
In the twelfth century,
16
Wallerstein,
The Modern
the great
World-System,
tariqah
organizations
began
1:348.
to
222
JOURNAL
OF WORLD
FALL
HISTORY,
1994
of the political
take shape.17 In the context
of the
disintegration
as the
Muslim
the
assumed
world,
tariqahs
increasing
importance
vehicle
for social
cohesion
and
The
"sufi
unity.
interregional
was based on its popular
new
movement
structure
its
and
appeal,
.
. . While
on popular
of religious
built
foundations.
unity was
. . .
had
local
the
orders
many
greatest
tariqahs
only
significance,
a
over
or
whole
of
Islamic
the
Thus
spread
territory.
large part
... to maintain
the ideal unity
of all Muslims.
they contributed
. . .Teachers
and disciples
from end to end of the Mus
journeyed
lim world,
the seeds of interchange
and cross-fertilization
bearing
the sufi framework."18
within
one of
This great network
and students
of teachers
provided
in sub
the most
vehicles
for the expansion
of Islam
important
an
Asia. The tariqahs
Saharan
Africa
and Southeast
gave people
that could be recognized
the Islamic world.
identity
throughout
of the Naqshbandiyyah
from northwest
Thus, a member
Tariqah
For exam
China could find brothers
all along
the road to Mecca.
this was
the path followed
century
ple, in the eighteenth
by Ma
in Central
studied with Naqshbandi
Asia,
shaykhs
Ming Xin, who
to China, his new
and the Holy Cities. On his return
India, Yemen,
into revivalist
tari
revolution
that had ties with
wars
in
the
Islamic
world
of
other
of
many
parts
qah-related
holy
an important
founda
the time. These
tariqah networks
provided
Islamic world-system.
tional bond for the postimperial
to shared
In addition
the tariqahs also
and identity,
teachings
the Islamic
for travel
support
provided
throughout
physical
world.
After
the development
of the major
tariqahs,
widespread
turn to fellow members
of the tariqah
the wandering
Sufi could
in the buildings
for spiritual
and also for shelter
of the
support
had facilities
for long-term
order. Most
students
tariqah centers
as well as areas for the practice
and more
travelers
of
temporary
approach
pious
ritual.
throughout
like, but
pious
led him
The visitors'
the Islamic
names
known by various
as zawiyah,
and the
khanqah,
in making
functions
comparable
facilities
world,
they all performed

travel possible.19
were
such
17A
account
is J. Spencer
of the emergence
of the orders
helpful
in Islam
The Sufi Orders
Press,
University
1971).
(London: Oxford
18
A. R. Gibb,
"An Interpretation
of Islamic
Hamilton
History,"
the Civilization
Press,
(Boston: Beacon
1962), pp. 29-30.
of Islam
19A
can
institutions
discussion
of the development
of these
The Sufi Orders
of Islam,
chap. 6.
Trimingham,
Trimingham,
in Studies
be
found
on
in
223
a similar
for systemwide
vehicle
scholars
provide
Wandering
to have said, "Seek knowl
is reported
Muhammad
interactions.
scholars were great travelers.
edge, even unto China," and Muslim
adventurers.
Their goal was to
These were not simple
sightseeing
under
of Islamic
within
the framework
gain greater
knowledge
"a
became
Travel
for the sake of religious
scholarship
standing.
an
Muslim
and
normative
feature of medieval
education"
impor
of
The great traditions
of the definition
of scholarship.20
standard
of law," with
the great "schools
became
legal opinion
on. Study of the texts of law and
ized texts to be taught and passed
and the other major
traditions
disciplines
(hadith) of the Prophet
and thir
for the travelers.
the program
By the twelfth
provided
a standard
set of works
the major
teenth
defined
centuries,
collections
of traditions
of the
schools
of law and the accepted
a common
of
"canonical
and these provided
syllabus
Prophet,
tant part
learning"
for scholars
anywhere
within
the postimperial
Islamic
world-system.21
in search
of travel
of knowledge
organization
changing
The
institutions
of the Islamic world.
the postimperial
went
centers
from
individualized
of
instructional
development
in particular
that were
instruction,
mosques
(masjids)
especially
to
not mosques
for the Friday
prayers,
masjids
congregational
structures
for lodging
with
out-of
accompanying
specifically
were
town students
These
and travelers
called
(usually
khans).
The
reflects
institutions
of Islamic
called madra
followed
learning,
by formal
in
eleventh
Southwest
the
Asia,
sahs, which
century
emerged
by
in
the
but
domains,
spread
Seljuk
rapidly
through
especially
out the Islamic world.
in these madrasahs
It was
that the "canon
was presented
to scholars
in search
of
ical syllabus"
traveling
knowledge.22
a parallel
The
The vocabulary
underwent
evolution.
were
terms
and
for "travel"
(rihla)
"seeking
knowledge"
in early writings.
Later
almost
they were
interchangeably
Arab
used
sepa
20
in Medieval
Societies:
A
I. Gellens,
for Knowledge
Sam
"The Search
Muslim
F. Eickelman
in Muslim
and James
ed. Dale
Travellers,
Approach,"
Comparative
Piscatori
of California
Press,
1990), p. 55 and passim.
University
(Berkeley:
21
Ibid.
22
on the important
is based
This
discussion
of the institutional
evolution
Institutions
The Rise
works
of George
Makdisi,
of Colleges,
of Learning
especially
in Islam and the West
Press,
University
1981) and his revi
Edinburgh
(Edinburgh:
new ed. (Leiden:
in The Encyclopedia
sion of J. Pedersen,
"Madrasa,"
of Islam,
E. J. Brill,
1985), 5:1122-34.
JOURNAL
224
OF WORLD
HISTORY,
FALL
1994
to pilgrimage
rihla applying
and the other terms keep
rated, with
the
"This
basic
reflect
the institutiona
may
ing
meaning.23
change
more
in place
lisation
of the madrasa
of the formerly
system
which
individualized,
orally-oriented
relationships
prevailed
in the early medieval
and teachers
centuries
students
between
of
usu
Islamic history.
[in the fourteenth
Thus, Ibn Battuta
century]
of Islamic
law and Sufi con
ally looks for buildings?i.e.,
colleges
vents?rather
there on his
than
the
solitary
but
renowned
scholar
here
and
itinerary."24
the networks
and itinerant
scholars were
of Sufi teachers
to the flows of economic
not
is
clear.
These people
goods
as wandering
and Muslim
the same paths
merchants,
are frequently
merchants
and Sufi teachers
mentioned
together
as important
in the nonmilitary
in
elements
of Islam
expansion
two
is
It
that
the
worked
for
clear,
many
regions.
example,
in the Islamization
is now the northern
in
of what
Sudan
together
In some cases, differ
centuries.25
the seventeenth
and eighteenth
How
related
followed
to provide
with
combined
tariqahs
influ
of exchange
of knowledge,
political
For
sixteenth
the
and
trade
the
ence,
century
example,
by
goods.
a
net
Yemen
had
established
of
south
family
Aydarus
far-flung
centers
of trade contacts,
and scholarly
work
tariqahs,
through
out the Indian Ocean basin. Notables
in this family held high posi
as tariqah
in the courts
tions
and also acted
of Indian princes
ent branches
of great
a basis
for networks
leaders
and
families
scholars
of hadith.26
in the Islamic world
traveled
of the post
who
Clearly,
people
were
era?whether
Sufi
students
of law,
disciples,
imperial
they
a
or merchants?were
unit
within
that
moving
comprehensible
the boundaries
of regional
traditions
of civilization.
transcended
notes
in the same situation
that Sam Gellens
for Ibn
Many were
Battuta:
"Ibn Battuta may not have known
the local languages
of
the places
he visited,
but he did know
the cultural
felt at home."27 They were moving
Muslims
and hence
language
within
of
the
23
"The Search
for Knowledge,"
Gellens,
p. 53.
24
Ibid.
25
of the Funj state
the very
See, for example,
important
study of the evolution
in the central
Nile
The Heroic
Jay Spaulding,
Age in Sinnar
(East Lansing:
valley:
State University,
African
Studies
Center, Michigan
1985).
26
on this family
is drawn
The information
from my unpublished
research.
27
for Knowledge,"
"The Search
Gellens,
p. 51.

framework
of
course-based
a hemispheric
225
of
community
or
discourse,
dis
world-system.
is symbolized
in the
This sense of community
and emphasized
belief
of the pilgrimage
the general
system
requirement
through
to Mecca.
of believers
from through
Every year a large gathering
out the Islamic world
in the central
assembles
sanctuaries
of
to travel
Islam on the holiday
This requirement
of the pilgrimage.
in giving pro
and come
has had enormous
together
significance
a
sense
an
to
Muslims
of
that transcends
entity
fessing
belonging
a way of communi
or societies.
It provides
civilizations
particular
across
exist within
that might
boundaries
the community
cating
to have a
In Mecca
of Muslims.
the pilgrimage
it is possible
during
sense of a shared discourse
that affirms
the authenticity
of the
Islamic
much
message,
in the various
traveled
rary times, the account
continuing
of
vitality
as he
experienced
In contempo
parts of the Islamic world.
X shows the
of the pilgrimage
by Malcolm
this experience
of a special
of
community
like what
Ibn Battuta
discourse.28
The
of this Islamic world-system

is reflected
strength
that even at the peak of the hegemonic
power of the
and
Sufi
merchants,
teachers,
capitalist
world-system,
to be successful
converts
to Islam
in winning
continued
Asia. Dutch
and Southeast
and imperial
commercial
fact
in the
modern
scholars
in Africa
interests
Asia for centuries,

have controlled
the islands of Southeast
this control
did not prevent
in
the steady advance
of Islam
can be seen in both West
those same islands. A similar
situation
an
and East Africa, where
state established
the modern
colonial
"new possibilities
institutional
framework
that provided
of ex
for Sufi orders and Muslim
teachers
and traders.29
pansion"
even in the nine
This double
level of world-system
operation,
teenth and twentieth
the need for a broader
centuries,
suggests
may
but
of world-system.
may
conceptualization
compete
World-systems
and also may operate
in different
in
dimensions
of a social system
that force a changing
of hegemonic.
definition
Wallerstein
ways
to be
has
that the world-system
needs
perspective
suggested
28
The
of Malcolm
Autobiography
(New
York:
Ballantine
Books,
1973),
17.
chap.
29
B. Cruise
Donald
ed. Alexander
Power,
Hopkins
University
O'Brien,
S. Cudsi
Press,
"Islam
and Power
E. Hillal
and Ali
1981), pp. 160-61.
in Black
in Islam
and
Africa,"
Dessouki
Johns
(Baltimore:
JOURNAL
226
OF WORLD
HISTORY,
FALL
1994
or "multidisci
and not just "interdisciplinary"
"unidisciplinary"
in method
and approach,
but he recognizes
the difficulty
plinary"
of this task.30
The
issues
raised
the Islamic
by considering
world-system
a broader
I suggest
in developing
that the
may help
approach.
was
not
the first
modern
long-lasting
capitalist
world-system
a world-empire.
The Islamic
without
community
world-system
a
in
centuries
fol
the
had already
such
world-system
developed
ce.
state
the
tenth
the
of
the
Abbasid
century
by
collapse
lowing
was not based
on a world-econ
This nonimperial
world-system
it was a discourse-based
tied together
omy. Instead
world-system
rather
of discourse
based on a broad community
by interactions
than by exchange
of goods. The capitalist
world-system
strongly
it. The
but it did not destroy
influenced
this Islamic world-system,
and
Islamic
of
the
repre
world-systems
capitalist
interpretation
sents a subject of study that tests even the most
talented
unidisci
plinary
scholars
30
Wallerstein,
of modern
"World-Systems
history.
Analysis:
The
Second
Phase,"
pp.
292-93.

20078599slam As Special System

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Islam as a Special World-System

Author(s): John Obert Voll

Islam as a Special World-System*

for the overall

stein and explore

Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

of the Islamic world

Yet an intelligent and informed observer of the fifteenth

and had no prospect

one. At the same time, it was not

were not the dominant

and yet some sufficiently

that the problem

Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

it was not trade or economic

Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

they all performed

Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

Voll: Islam as a Special World-System

of this Islamic world-system

Asia for centuries,

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