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TFI Asia

Asia - Islam & Muslims

Islam in Asia

Prophet Muhammad (saws)
Islam was started on the Arabian peninsula by prophet Muhammad (saws) in the 7th century. Since then it began spreading rapidly. Till his death (in 632), prophet Muhammad (saws) managed to unite the whole of the Arabian peninsule into one country with Islam as the official religion.

Islamic Golden Age
Some time after the death of prophet Muhammad (saws), the Islamic Golden Age started (approx. 750 CE). It lasted till about 1258. This period witnessed the lives of many great Muslim scientists and physicians such as Al-Kindi or Ibn Sina. It was also the time of the development of Islamic philosophy. Many influential Muslim thinkers lived at that time. The most notable examples are: Al-Kindi ("father" of Islamic philosophy), Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali and the last one Ibn Rushd. At that time Islamic art also developed greatly.

Today
Today most Muslims live in Asia. The majority of notable Muslim religious leaders are based in Asia. Asian countries with high Muslim population include: Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, India, Turkey, Russia, Yemen, Oman, and Qatar.

Islam in Oceania
Islam in Oceania refers to Islam and Muslims in Oceania. Some countries in Oceania, notable Australia, have Islam as their third largest religion, after Christianity and Buddhism. By current estimates, there are 600,000 Muslims in Oceania.

History
Islam has been in some parts of Oceania for at least 400 hundred years (since the 1600s). When the people of Papua New Guinea and West Papua traded with China and the Malay empire, in the early 1600s, the presence of Islam was felt in Oceania for the first time.

Other parts of Oceania hadn't felt the presence of Islam until the 1800s. The first Muslims in Fiji, for example, came when Muslim migrants came on a ship bringing indentured labourers to Fiji in 1879. The first such ship, Leonidas, had 22% of the boarders Muslims. In the next 40 years, a total of 60,553 labourers were brought to Fiji from India under the Indenture system.

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