New nations (1930s-1960s)

Part oneA kingdom in Arabia

In the 1920s Abdulaziz ibn Saud united most of the Arabian peninsula, taking the Hijaz, with Makkah and Madinah, in 1924 and 1925. In 1932 he proclaimed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was poor and sparsely settled, but it held the two holy cities, and its king took responsibility for the pilgrims. Oil, found in 1938, would soon change it beyond recognition.

Part twoAsia: Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Indonesia declared independence in 1945 and won it after four years of struggle against the Dutch. Its founders chose a state that was neither secular in the Western sense nor Islamic in law, based on five principles beginning with belief in one God. It became the largest Muslim-majority country in the world.

Pakistan was founded on 14 August 1947 as a homeland for the Muslims of British India, in two parts a thousand miles apart, West and East Pakistan. Its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, died in 1948. The two wings differed in language and felt unequally treated, and in 1971, after a bitter war, East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh. Millions of Muslims also remained in India, where they are today one of the largest Muslim communities in the world.

Part threeThe Arab world and Africa

In Egypt in 1952 a group of army officers overthrew King Farouk. Their leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, gave land to peasants, built the Aswan High Dam and in 1956 nationalised the Suez Canal. When Britain, France and Israel invaded, international pressure, above all from the United States, forced them to withdraw, and Nasser became a hero across the Arab world. His message of Arab nationalism and state socialism was copied in Syria, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere, often by army officers who took power in coups.

Other leaders took a different path. In Saudi Arabia, King Faisal, who ruled from 1964 to 1975, promoted Islamic solidarity as an answer to Nasser's nationalism. He helped found the Muslim World League in 1962 and supported the creation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in 1969.

North Africa won independence through negotiation and war: Libya in 1951, Morocco, Tunisia and Sudan in 1956, and Algeria in 1962 after eight years of fighting in which hundreds of thousands died. South of the Sahara, Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Senegal and many other states with large Muslim populations became independent around 1960.

Part fourHopes and disappointments

The new nations began with great hopes. Many built schools, universities, roads and hospitals at a speed never seen before. But many also inherited borders drawn by others and economies built to serve distant markets. Many fell under military rule or one-party government. The defeat of Egypt, Syria and Jordan by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, when East Jerusalem and al-Aqsa were lost, was a deep shock. It weakened faith in Arab nationalism, and many people began to look again to Islam as the source of their identity and their politics.

From the Quran

إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ ۝١٠

The believers are but one brotherhood, so make peace between your brothers. And be mindful of Allah so you may be shown mercy.

In a single generation, dozens of new flags were raised over Muslim lands.

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The mapWhere it happened

• Riyadh
• Makkah
• Cairo
• Algiers
• Rabat
• Tripoli
• Khartoum
• Kano
• Dakar
• Karachi
• Dhaka
• Jakarta

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter