Islamic Golden Age

 Islamic Golden Age
Expansion of the Muslim world continued by both conquest and proselytism as both Islam and Muslim trade networks were extending into sub-Saharan West Africa, Central Asia, Volga Bulgaria and the Malay archipelago.



The Ghaznavids and Ghurids conquered much of the Indian subcontinent. Many Muslims went to China to trade, virtually dominating the import and export industry of the Song Dynasty.


The major hadith collections were compiled. The Ja'fari jurisprudence was formed from the teaching of Ja'far al-Sadiq while the four Sunni Madh'habs, the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi, were established around the teachings of Abu hanifa, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Malik ibn Anas and al-Shafi respectively.


Al-Shafi also codified a method to establish the reliability of hadith.Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir completed the most commonly cited commentaries on the Quran, the Tafsir al-Tabari in the 9th century and the Tafsir ibn Kathir in the 14th century, respectively.



Philosophers AlFarabi and Ibn e Sina (Avicenna) sought to incorporate Greek principles into Islamic theology, while others like Al-Ghazzali argued against them and ultimately prevailed.



Caliphs such as Mamun-al-Rashid and Al-Mutasim made the mutazilite philosophy an official creed and imposed it upon Muslims to follow.

 Mutazila was a Greek influenced school of speculative theology called kalam, which refers to dialectic.

Many orthodox Muslims rejected mutazilite doctrines and condemned their idea of the creation of the Quran. In inquisitions, Imam Hanbal refused to conform and was tortured and sent to an unlit Baghdad prison for nearly thirty months.


The other branch of kalam was the Ashari school founded by Al-Ashari. Some Muslims began to question the piety of indulgence in a worldly life and emphasized poverty, humility and avoidance of sin based on renunciation of bodily desires.



Ascetics such as Hasan al-Basri would inspire a movement that would evolve into Sufism.
Beginning in the 13th century, Sufism underwent a transformation,greatly because of efforts to legitimize and reorganize the movement by Al-Ghazali, who developed the model of the Sufi order—a community of spiritual teachers and students.