Islamic rulers married Hindu wives
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Elisabeth Reif, a cultural anthropologist, examines the history of Islam and notes periods when the religion demonstrated tolerance and openness to outside ideas.
Reif explains that identifying the conditions that fostered tolerant concepts within Islam proves more difficult than tracing the origins of more rigid interpretations. Early examples of openness include the incorporation of Greek philosophy in Baghdad during the 8th and 9th centuries and elements of Zoroastrianism.
Reif details how economic prosperity and the end of expansion in places like Baghdad and Andalusia created environments conducive to intellectual and cultural flourishing. During the 16th century Mughal Empire in India, rulers often married Hindu women and fostered a diverse court, even attempting to blend Sunni, Shia, Hindu, and Christian beliefs into a single religion. However, this syncretism did not last, and the Mughal Empire eventually declined amid growing oppression of Hindus and British influence.
Although Islam lacks a central authority like the Catholic Church, movements like the 19th-century Salafism and later reformist Islam emerged. Reif observes that while modernization did not automatically lead to secularization in Islamic countries, movements for parliamentary governance and citizen rights were suppressed by colonial powers. She argues that global trends towards authoritarianism threaten democratic progress worldwide.
