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The Republic of Rumi

An overview of history

 

"If a wound has befallen you, a wound like it has already befallen others; We alternate the days of successes and reverses among peoples." — Quran, Chapter 3, Verse 140

"One who cannot draw on three thousand years is living hand to mouth." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The following overview was presented by Khurram Ali Shafique in Iqbal: Tashkeeli Daur (2009). It is an attempt to classify history according to the underlying concepts of the Republic of Rumi

The Age of Inquiry

Prehistory: From the appearance of human being on this planet to the beginning of civilization. Quranic figure: Adam. Other: Vedanta

The Age of Discovery

c.5000 BC - c.2000 BC: From the beginning of civilization to the advent of Abraham. Quranic figure: Noah. Other: development of art and music

The Age of Transcendence

c.2000 BC - c.1400 BC: From the advent of Abraham to the birth of Moses. Quranic figure: Abraham. Other: development of literature

The Age of Freedom

c.1400 BC - c.600 BC: From Moses to, roughly, the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchednezzar. Quranic figure: Moses. Other: Gautama Buddha

The Age of Action

c.600 BC - 4 BC: Roughly from Cyrus the Great to the birth of Jesus Christ. Quranic figure: Zulqarnayn (possibly Cyrus the Great). Other: Zarathustra

The Age of Expansion

c.4 BC - 570: From Jesus Christ to the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Quranic figure: Jesus

 

The Age of Creation

Since 570: Birth of the modern world with the advent of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Subsequent periods may be seen as subdivisions of this age. Quranic figure: Prophet Muhammad
      • End of the ancient world I: In the years between the 'Ascension' of Prophet Muhammad (622 AD) and the tragedy of Kerbala (680 AD), the ancient world came to an end
      • End of the ancient world II: With the fall of the Omayyid dynasty in 750 AD, the Arab hegemony which had destroyed the ancient world, itself came to end.

Persian Revival

750 - 1258: Five centuries of Abbasid rule from 750 to 1258, when the legacy of Persian statecraft was Islamized in order to discover new horizons in science, learning and religious tolerance. Mode of Sufism: personal

DUMMY PICTUREChinese Revival

1258 - 1747: Five centuries from 1258 to 1747, dominated by "gunpowder empires" (Chinese, Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, European) directly or indirectly inspired by the model of Kubla Khan. Mode of Sufism: institutional

DUMMY PICTUREAfghan Revival

Since 1747: Since the accession of Ahmad Shah Abdali in Afghanistan in 1747, the world has been dominated by nation states in search of democracy. Mode of Sufism: social

    • Formation of ideal
      • 1747-66: Creation
      • 1767-86: Expansion
      • 1787-1806: Action
      • 1807-26: Freedom
      • 1827-46: Transcendence
      • 1847-66: Discovery
      • 1867-86: Inquiry
    • Actualizing the ideal
      • 1887-1906: Inquiry
      • 1907-26: Discovery
      • 1927-46: Transcendence
      • 1947-66: Freedom
      • 1967-86: Action
      • 1987-2006: Expansion
      • 2007-26: Creation

With .