Encyclopedia of Islam

Aga Khan

---

Further reading: Farhad Daftary, A Short History of the 

Ismailis (Princeton, N.J.: Marcus Wiener Publishers, 

1998); Willi Frischauer, The Aga Khans (London: The 

Bodley Head, 1970); Renata Holod and Darl Rastorfer, 

eds., Architecture and Community: Building in the Islamic 

World Today (New York: 1983).

agriculture

Agriculture is farming—cultivating the land to 

produce crops and raising and caring for livestock. 

Archaeologists have found the earliest known evi-

dence for the domestication of plants and 

animals

,

which occurred before 8000 

b

.

c

.

e

., in mountainous 

areas of i

ran

, i

raq

, t

Urkey

, and p

alestine

. Farm-

ing, assisted by irrigation technology, contributed 

to the rise of the first cities in the river valleys of 

ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and e

gypt

 by 3100 

b

.

c

.

e

., and it shaped significantly the pre-Islamic 

religious beliefs and practices of these civilizations. 

Contrary to the stereotype of nomads traveling 

across vast deserts, during the era of medieval 

Islamicate civilization (seventh century to 17th 

century 

c

.

e

.), settled agriculture was the real basis 

of the economy and remains so to this day in 

many countries where Muslims are a majority of 

the population. Moreover, cotton and many foods 

consumed today, such as rice, citrus fruits, sugar, 

and 

coFFee

, were introduced to Europe and the 

Americas via Islamicate lands in the Middle East, 

where they had been transplanted from Asia and 

Africa during the Middle Ages.

The importance of agriculture in Islamicate 

societies is reflected in Islamic religion and reli-

Vegetable market, Marrakesh, Morocco 

(Federico R. 

Campo

)