Search Results: Political islam

Islam is an Abrahamic-monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (l. 570-632 CE, after whose name Muslims traditionally add “peace be upon him” or, in writing, PBUH). Alongside Christianity and Judaism...

Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated...

This infographic illustrates the Five Pillars of Islam, which form the core practices of the religion, established during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (7th century CE) —Shahada (faith), Salah (prayer), Zakat (charity), Sawm (fasting...

The Arthashastra (or Arthaśāstra) is one of the oldest surviving treatises on statecraft. There is considerable debate about the dating and authorship of the text; it underwent compilation, recension, and redaction several times over the...

Augustus is well known for being the first Emperor of Rome, but even more than that, for being a self-proclaimed “Restorer of the Republic.” He believed in ancestral values such as monogamy, chastity, and piety (virtue). Thus, he introduced...

Only this fragment of a large stele has survived. On the surface, the Assyrian and Babylonian kings were carved in relief. The cuneiform inscription narrates a political treaty between them. The faces of the kings were deliberately vandalized...

Abu Bakr (l. 573-634 CE, r. 632-634 CE) was an early convert of Islam; he was a close friend and confidant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and became the first caliph of the Islamic empire – a successor to Muhammad's temporal position but...

A map indicating the general direction and timings of the spread of Islam in Africa from the 7th to 18th century CE

We all live in states today, and Thomas Hobbes has a good claim to have been the first person to articulate this concept in its modern sense. The intention of Hobbes’s civil science was to lower the temperature of politics, and his concept...

British political cartoon depicting the XYZ Affair; America, represented as Lady Liberty, is being accosted by five Frenchmen, while figures representing other European countries look on in the background. Published by S.W. Fores, London...