Harsh repressive measures were employed against the rebellious muslims of the qing dynasty. If they indeed did read the book, they would of known that buddhism did not cease to exist on the silk road. Main idea political heavy taxes implemented by conquering islamic armies convinced many people to convert jiyza islamic empire expanded all the way to tarim basin central asia after receiving submission of nonmuslim arab clans, muslims reached out across the arabian. There is a myth that has the end of buddhism in india a result of the destruction of the buddhist monastery of nalanda by muslim raiders in 1202.
Buddhism and islam on the silk road encounters with asia. Johan elverskogs book, buddhism and islam on the silk road, challenges this perception by giving us a new perspective on buddhist and islamic interaction along this extensive trade route. The spread of buddhism and islam xinru liu the college of new jersey since andre gunder frank published the centrality of central asia1 in 1992, world historians have paid more attention to the dynamic forces radiating from central asia during the last few thousand years. Today, we call this way the silk road, and we associate it with famous travellers like marco polo, whose journeys to china astounded the europeans of his day.
This paper seeks to initiate dialogue between islam and buddhism through the islamic concept of ummatan wasaan middle nation and the buddhist concept of majjhimapatipada middle way as a. Thus to me the silk road is one of the best representations of the theme. While the silk road was a twoway route, most of its movement was eastward, carrying buddhism, zoroastrianism, judaism, and later, islam. The impact of the silk road and islam on world history overview. Islam flourished during the brutal but religiously tolerant mongol yuan dynasty. Johan elverskog is exceedingly well read in the relevant literature, and his book is fascinating and thoughtprovoking. It spread to persia and india as well, along with its syriac language and script. From the seventh century ad, arab muslims traveled to china by the silk road or the sea route to spread islam. Buddhism the spread of buddhism along the silk road. A most significant development happened at the same time as the buddhist movement began to spread and that was the opening of a new way through, from india to china. In the tang dynasty, guangdong province and quanzhou were the strongholds of most islamic believers. After about the first century ad, the spread of buddhism among learned people was helped by the practice of writing down and translating buddhist scriptures or sutra into different languages. Johan elverskog buddhism and islam on the silk road. Silk road, taklamakan desert, bactrian camel, mogao caves, greater afroeurasian silk road, age of the four empires, sogdians, second chinese empire, religions along the silk road, dar alislam, song era, pax mongolica, great eurasian pandemic, timurids, new world silver, qing dynasty, indian diaspora, orenburg line, the cotton.
A historical overview on buddhism and islam indian society before the birth of buddhism and arab society before the birth of islam share several characteristics, such as polytheism, the worshipping of idols and the existence of great social inequalities. This groundbreaking book covers inner asia from the eighth century through the mongol empire and to the end. Belief systems when china opened the way to silk road trade by defeating the xiongnu confederation and pushing chinese military control over trade routes northwesterly as far as the tarim basin, buddhism was known in central asia but had not yet spread to china or elsewhere in east asia. Buddhism and islam on the silk road johan elverskog. Pdf buddhism and islam on the silk road dipen barua. Spread of islam through the silk road by tim strickman on. Buy buddhism and islam on the silk road encounters with asia by johan elverskog isbn. Islam came to china via the silk road, the great trading route beginning in the ancient. Many great processes of world history had their origins in central asia. Central asia as an emerging geopolitical discourse 358 interests of great powers.
The impact of the silk road and islam on world history. History of islam in china and the spread of the islamic. Spread of religion through the silk road by ziyaad m on prezi. There is a really enjoyable book about auriel stein and the other western explorersarchaeologist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that explored the taklamakan desert of western china and the ancient silk road cities. Islam came to china via the silk road, the great trading route beginning in the ancient chinese capital of xian. Buddhism and islam on the silk road demonstrates that the history of buddhistmuslim interaction is much richer and more complex than many assume. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. No religious tradition in history favored trade to the extent islam did. Our pdf merger allows you to quickly combine multiple pdf files into one single pdf document, in just a few clicks. In fact, much of the knowledge we have today about the spread of buddhism comes from documents that have survived at sites such as dunhuang on the silk road. The unesco nomads route expedition retracing the silk road across. Buddhism and islam on the silk road demonstrates that the history of. Ebscohost serves thousands of libraries with premium essays, articles and other content including a silk road legacy.
The silk road is iconic because of how greatly it altered the many cultures involved. Buddhism and islam on the silk roaddemonstrates that the history of buddhistmuslim interaction is much richer and more complex than many assume. Cultural hegemony along the silk road in the year 1985, there was a marvelous exhibition to be visited at the david and alfred smart museum, chicago. The silk road metaphor has been used in a variety of discourses of different actors such as japan, china, russia, india, and the us. Students will use technology to explore the social, cultural, religious, and economic impact of the silk road and other transcontinental trade routes between the classical era and gunpowder empires of world history. The civilizations which flourished along the silk road in the first millennium ce were open to cultural and religious influences from both east and west. Today, buddhism is a popular world religion and that can be largely attributed to the silk road. The silk road journey with xuanzang by sally hovey wriggins and buddhism and islam on the silk road by johan elverskog could be used for additional class discussions or writing assignments. Particularly the pre islamic silk road is particularly interesting as it was a. The conversion to islam started in the 8th century in central asia. The myth that islam destroyed buddhism in central asia, india, etc. China is building a new silk road that runs through the heartland of the muslim world. Many nestorian churches were built along the silk road.
Islam would be more than seven centuries in the future. Christianity was spread from east to west primarily as the form known as nestorianism, and introduced to china through the silk road in 635. With the spread of islam into the regions around the silk road, many of the stupas and temples were destroyed or left abandoned in the desert. The silk road itself was pioneered sometime during the midfirst millennium b. Topics buddhism, comparative religion collection opensource language english. The arabs invaded central asia under the flag of islam in 711, capturing the. Since islam condemned the iconography, most of the buddhist statues and wallpaintings were damaged or destroyed. Similar to yourself, i am particularly interested in coins that reflect a strong multicultural and multilingual roots. For instance, japan, emphasized the silk road diplomacy in 1990s and in 2002. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. As such, people have come to accept as true that buddhists and muslims never enjoyed good relations after coming into contact with each other.
This groundbreaking book covers inner asia from the eighth century through the mongol empire and to the end of the qing dynasty in the late nineteenth century. History of islam in china and the distribution of the islamic faith in china. The silk road 731 making up only 5% of the total world trade and it was not going through anatolia on its path. The peoples of the silk road in its early decades followed many different religions. For much of this time, most silk road traders coming from western eurasia were muslim, and they brought their beliefs and rich culture to millions of people. This road also functioned as a bridge in between people and cultures for centuries. Five college center for east asian studies buddhism along. Many religions, including christianity, buddhism, hinduism, islam, zoroastrianism and manichaeism, gained new followers.
Islam flourished during the brutal but religiously. While traits of gandharan, hellenistic and nomadic scythian traditions, merged with. In western countries, the skill of producing silk remained largely unknown until the 12th century however once this changed, the route began to lose its major significance. The widespread adoption of islam beyond the arab peninsula is recorded in some older histories as starting as early as the midseventh century, but in fact, this probably did not occur until at least a century later. Abstract islam came to china via the silk road, the great trading route beginning in the ancient chinese capital of xian. This article explores the religious and social life of central asian peoples both before and after islamization, relying on historical records written in arabic, persian, and chinese, as well as modern scholarship in art history and archaeology. Encounter s betw een islam and buddhism are as old as islam itself. Foltz is an assistant professor in the department of religion at the university of florida. Buddhism and islam on the silk road is a scholarly work, but one that provides enough background to be accessible to those without specialist knowledge, of the region or of either religion. Its leaders promise to bring about change through improved economies. Decline of buddhism the decline of buddhism along the silk road was due to the collapse of the tang dynasty in the east and the invasion of arabs in the west. Silk road was a major trade route of its time that retained its importance for 2,000 years. Premodern patterns of globalization 2nd edition by foltz, r. Naming it the silk road is probably misleading as although silk was important increasingly so in tang china, it wasnt usually the top trade items, for example, sources suggesting ammonium chloride was the top trade item in a number of routes.
It has fewer than a million people and lies in the shadow of its wealthy neighbors, shanghai and wenzhou. The silk road transmission between eastern and indian buddhism thus came to an end in the 8th century, on one hand because islam in central asia repressed buddhism along the silk road itself, but also because buddhism in both india and china were in decline by that time. But it was buddhism, travelling the trade routes of the silk road, which became the common factor uniting the different. He is the author of several books and articles including religions of the silk road, mughal india and central asia, and conversations with emperor jahangir.
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