Traders, preachers brought Islam to Asia, not warriors

ANKARA, Turkey

Islamic warriors burst out of Arabia in the 7th century, conquering the great Persian Empire and lands stretching from the Middle East to Spain and Central Asia. With them, they brought a new religion.

Islamic influence spread across Asia, carried as well by merchants, artisans and preachers. Muslim empires began to dominate the world's trade routes, and poetry and the sciences flourished. Craftsmanship reached fantastic heights.

"It was the religion of culture," says Nazif Shahrani, an anthropologist at Indiana University. "A lot of these traders were very influential folks who came with new goods, new ideas and even new technologies."

Almost all the merchants, traders and preachers were from the mainstream Sunni branch of Islam, and today most Asian Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam.

On the Indian subcontinent, Islam took special hold among the lower castes, who were attracted to its concept of a universal Islamic brotherhood.

Mystics of the Sunni branch, called Sufis, preached widely in Asia and were instrumental in converting people. Sufism, which emphasizes personal devotion and often blends local practices into its worship, is still powerful among Asian Muslims.

The other main branch of Islam, although much smaller, is Shiism, which dominates Iran and is the largest sect in Iraq. Pockets of Shiite Islam also exist in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Sunnis believe the first four caliphs, or supreme religious leaders, were the rightful successors of the Prophet Muhammad but have chosen subsequent leaders based on Islamic political realities of the time. Shiites, on the other hand, insist that true leaders of Islam must be descendants of Ali, the fourth caliph and Muhammad's son-in-law.

Shiism, originally a dissident faction, has its own distinct rituals and a more organized and hierarchical clerical system than Sunni Islam.

A strict form of Islam called Wahhabism, founded in Saudi Arabia at the start of the 19th century, still flourishes there today and is making inroads in Asia. Wahhabi adherents are causing friction with other Muslims in Central Asia and northwestern China, for example. Based on a literal translation of the Quran, Wahhabism rejects mysticism and any veneration of saints or their tombs. The movement has served as an inspiration for Osama bin Laden.

Besides the differences among sects, Muslims in different countries often exhibit cultural distinctions.

Islam in general, for example, calls on women to be modestly dressed. In Afghanistan, women are covered head-to-toe and veil their faces in dull-colored cloth. In Uzbekistan, however, women favor head scarves rather than veils and wear brightly colored clothing.

But overall, Muslims share far more similarities than differences.

Religious Sunnis and Shiites have some variations in their prayer services but both groups bow their heads toward the holy city of Mecca and recite the same verses of the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

"Everywhere you have local customs -- this is the lifestyle, and lifestyle always carries the old heritage," said Ilber Ortayli, a Turkish historian. "But there are strict rules ... that come from the Muslim law schools."