Coffee In the Islamicate Empires

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into History of coffee. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2021.

Coffee, coming from the Arabic word qahwa in Arabic,^[1] makes its first notable appearance when the Sufi saints and mystics utilized it as a stimulant in order to increase concentration on the praise of God and stay awake throughout long religious activities.

Founding of coffee in the Islamicate world[]

Coffee, coming from the Arabic word qahwa in Arabic,^[2] makes its first notable appearance when the Sufi saints and mystics utilized it as a stimulant in order to increase concentration on the praise of God and stay awake throughout long religious activities. Coffee in the Middle East began to spring in popularity during the late 15th century, until it exploded in popularity across the region and beyond in the 16th and 17th centuries. Englishmen passing through Safavid and the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century noted that coffee was "very good to help digestion, to quicken the spirits, and to cleanse the blood.”^[3] Coffee would eventually spread throughout the rest of the world, but first it spread throughout the Islamicate Empires and cities, such as the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empires.

Importance of coffee in the Islamicate world[]

It is well known that certain substances are considered haram, prohibited or sinful, by the Quran. Coffee fell under this umbrella of substances that was considered haram by many religious authorities. However, many scholars and citizens fought against this proposed ban of coffee. The importance of Islamic education and medicine, and the respect that these fields garnered in the Islamicate empires, can be seen as a key piece in this argument. Practitioners of Islamic medicine and science fought against the notion that coffee was like that of hashish or alcohol, and instead proposed the benefits of a drink that would stimulate the mind, while protecting against the allure of alcohol and hashish.^[4] Coffeehouses in Mecca, Yemen, and Cairo began to explode in popularity, and they become centers of public life within the sprawling cities of the Islamicate Empires. The coffeehouses sometimes acted as something like the bayt al-Hakima or madrasas, meaning that they acted as key centers of Islamic life, arts, and thinking. Neha Verami, from the Folger Shakespeare Library, said that "the history of these coffeehouses offers three connected insights: the emergence of the public sphere, the participation of larger sections of the population in the political lives of the early modern Islamic empires, and the hollowness of the allegations of despotism mounted on ‘Oriental’ societies by Western onlookers".^[5] Coffee became an ingrained piece of Islamic culture for the centuries to come.

Transportation and spread of coffee[]

The Islamicate Empires were home to numerous discoveries, development of scientific knowledge, and philosophical ways of thinking. Those things spread throughout the world alongside of trade and travel. Coffee was very similar to these things in that respect. The first route of travel for coffee was through the massive, sprawling Ottoman Empire that allowed transportation of goods such as coffee to make their way well into Europe, and the second route of travel was from the port of Mocha in Yemen,^[6] where the East India Trading Co. bought coffee in masses and transported it back to mainland Europe. Coffee became a crucial part of the culture in most of Europe, with queens, kings, and the general public all becoming extensively enthralled with the product. Rather it be through the term 'coffee arabica' or the transportation of the drink, the passage of coffee into the Western world greatly resembles that of the scientific knowledge and discoveries passed on by the Islamicate Empires.

References[]