ABSTRACT
Islamic area studies deal with various phenomena that have occurred in regions influenced by Islam. Among these phenomena, we notice a class that is closely related to geographical factors. For example, desertification in relation to the self-sufficiency policy in the Persian Gulf (Chapter 4); income imbalance in relation to the geographical distribution of castes over the Ponneri region in India (Chapter 7); territorial conflicts in relation to the configuration of different racial settlements in the Ferghana valley in Russia (Chapter 8); and Islamic landscapes in relation to the arrangement of mosques in Istanbul (Chapter 15). We call this type of phenomenon a geographical phenomenon. Since Islamic area studies are area-specific (literally, Islamic area studies are Islamic AREA studies), we may say that almost all phenomena in Islamic area studies include geographical phenomena to some extent.
