From the tenth century to today: how the dominant theological tradition of Islam evolved. Hover over a country to name it.
10th – 11th century
Birth of Ashʿarism in Basra and Māturīdism in Samarkand
Ashʿarite (Māliki/Shafiʿi)
Māturīdite (Ḥanafi)
Ashʿarite/Athari contest
Athari/Salafi dominant
Shia dominant
Islam not yet formalized · non-Muslim · diaspora
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Two levels of reading: a light shade shows Islam where it takes root, then each school takes its full color once it prevails. The two orthodox Sunni traditions are distinguished by two greens: Ashʿarism (the Māliki and Shafiʿi worlds) and Māturīdism (the Ḥanafi world). The gold marks Athari/Salafism, born in the Najd in the eighteenth century, then spread quietly through oil funding from the 1970s onward: it is the only dynamic still active today. The arrows run from the cities where each school was born (Basra, Baghdad, the Najd, Medina) toward the regions gained. Evocative traces, not exact surveys. Present-day state borders.