Download Rise of Islam, Ottoman Empire to Fall Study Unit

The Rise of Islam and The Ottoman Empire to its Fall
Vocabulary: pulled from chapters 8, 19, 25, 28 There will be one vocabulary quiz
Ch. 8
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Shi’ites
Caliphate
Sunnis
Quran
Mecca
Umayyad Caliphate
Muhammad
Abbasid Caliphate
muslim
mamluks
Islam
Medina
Ulama
umma
hadith
Ch. 19
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Ottoman Empire
Mughal Empire
Suleiman the Magnificent
Akbar
Janissary (ies)
Tulip Period
Safavid Empire
Hidden Imam
Shah Abbas I
Ch. 25
25. Muhammad Ali
26. Serbia
27. Crimean War
Ch. 28
28. mandate system
Reading Assignments:
Ch 8 The Rise of Islam, 600–1200 226
The Origins of Islam
The Arabian Peninsula Before Muhammad •
Muhammad in Mecca • The Formation of the Umma
The Rise and Fall of the Caliphate, 632–1258
The Islamic Conquests, 634–711 • The Umayyad and Early Abbasid Caliphates, 661–850 •
Political Fragmentation, 850–1050 • Assault from Within and Without, 1050–1258
Islamic Civilization
Law and Dogma • Converts and Cities •
Islam, Women, and Slaves • The Recentering of Islam
Ch 12
The Mongols and Islam, 1260 – 1500 349
Ch 13
New Islamic Empires 378
Mali in the Western Sudan (only as pertains to Islam) • The Delhi Sultanate in India
Ch 19 Southwest Asia and the Indian Ocean, 1500–1750 546
The Ottoman Empire, to 1750
Expansion and Frontiers • Central Institutions •
Crisis of the Military State, 1585–1650 • Economic Change and Growing Weakness, 1650–1750
The Safavid Empire, 1502–1722
The Rise of the Safavids 496 • Society and Religion •
A Tale of Two Cities: Isfahan and Istanbul 497 • Economic Crisis and Political Collapse
The Mughal Empire, 1526–1761
Political Foundations • Hindus and Muslims •
Central Decay and Regional Challenges, 1707–1761
Trade Empires in the Indian Ocean, 1600–1729
Muslims in the East Indies • Muslims in East Africa
Ch 24 Land Empires in the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1870 686
The Ottoman Empire
Egypt and the Napoleonic Example, 1798–1840 •
Ottoman Reform and the European Model, 1807–1853
The Crimean War and Its Aftermath, 1853–1877
■ DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION: Europe and the Ottoman Empire
Ch 28 The Crisis of the Imperial Order, 1900–1929 798
Origins of the Crisis in Europe and the Middle East 799
The Ottoman Empire and the Balkans 800 • Nationalism, Alliances, and Military Strategy (only focus on Ottomans – separate
unit on WWI)
• The Ottoman Empire at War 805 •
Summary:
CHAPTER 8 The Rise of Islam,
I. The Sasanid Empire, 224–651
A. Politics and Society
1. The Sasanid kingdom was established in 224 and controlled the areas of Iran and Mesopotamia. The
Sasanids confronted Arab pastoralists on their Euphrates border and the Byzantine Empire on the west.
Relations with the Byzantines alternated between war and peaceful trading relationships. In times of
peace, the Byzantine cities of Syria and the Arab nomads who guided caravans between the Sasanid and
Byzantine Empires all flourished on trade. Arabs also benefited from the invention of the camel saddle,
which allowed them to take control of the caravan trade.
2. The Iranian hinterland was ruled by a largely autonomous local aristocracy that did not pose a threat,
however, to the stability of the Sasanid Empire.
3. The Silk Road brought new products to the Sasanid Empire, including a number of crops from India
and China.
B. Religion and Empire
1. The Sasanid Empire made Zoroastrianism its official religion. The Byzantine Empire made Christianity
its official religion. Both Zoroastrianism and Christianity were intolerant of other religions. State
sponsorship of Zoroastrianism and Christianity set a precedent for the link that developed between the
Islamic religion and the Islamic state.
2. The Byzantine and Sasanid empires were characterized by state involvement in theological struggles.
The Byzantine Empire went to war with the Sasanids over the latter’s persecution of Christians, but the
Byzantine emperors and bishops themselves purged Christianity of beliefs that they considered heretical,
such as the Monophysite doctrine and Nestorianism. In the third century, Mani of Mesopotamia founded a
religion whose beliefs centered around the struggle between good and evil. Mani was killed by the
Sasanid shah, but Manichaeism spread widely in Central Asia. Arabs had some awareness of these
religious conflicts and knew about Christianity.
3. During this period, religion had replaced citizenship, language, and ethnicity as the paramount factor in
people’s identity.
The Expansive Realm of Islam
IN PERSPECTIVE
After the decline and collapse of the classical empires, new societies rose to take their
place. A series of these states were inspired by a new religion, Islam. From its origins in Arabia,
Islam quickly spread to the Sasanid Empire in Persia and even into parts of Byzantium.
Muslims, or “ones who have submitted” to the will of Allah, spread their religious convictions
but also drew inspiration from the Persian, Greek, and Indian worlds. Eventually the dar alIslam (“house of Islam”) would cover a cosmopolitan world ranging from Spain in the west to
India in the east.
A Prophet and His World
The heartland of this new religion was the desert peninsula of Arabia, populated by the
nomadic Bedouins. Arabian merchants played an important role in long-distance trade.
Muhammad (570–632 C.E.) was born into this merchant tradition. Although an orphan,
Muhammad eventually achieved a position in society through his marriage to the wealthy widow
Khadija. In a series of visions Muhammad learned from the archangel Gabriel that he was
Allah’s prophet, although he did not set out to create a new world religion. After coming into
conflict with the Meccan wealthy classes, Muhammad led his followers in 622 to the northern
city of Yathrib (renamed Medina). This journey, called the hijra, was the turning point in
Muhammad’s career and is still recognized as the starting point of the Islamic calendar. In
Medina Muhammad served as the religious, political, and social leader of his community
(umma). In 630 Muhammad and his followers conquered Mecca and destroyed the idols at the
Ka’ba. Two years later he led the first pilgrimage, or hajj, to the Ka’ba. His plans to unite
Arabia and spread Islam beyond its borders were cut short by his death in 632.
Muhammad was a strict monotheist, believing that Allah was the one true God. His
revelations from Allah were recorded in the Quran. Although he displayed immense respect for
the Jewish and Christian religions, Muhammad came to see himself as the “seal of the prophets.”
As the final prophet, he was the only one who recognized the complete revelation of Allah. The
Five Pillars of Islam formed the basic obligations of the faith: (1) acknowledgment of Allah as
the only God and Muhammad as his prophet, (2) prayer to Allah while facing Mecca, (3) fast
during the holy month of Ramadan, (4) alms for the weak and poor, (5) a pilgrimage to Mecca at
least once during a Muslim’s lifetime. Sometimes jihad is seen as a sixth pillar. The sharia, or
Islamic holy law, provided guidance on issues ranging from family life to commercial
relationships.
The Expansion of Islam
After the death of Muhammad political authority passed to Abu Bakr as caliph. A
century of tremendous expansion followed, as Islamic armies seized Syria, Palestine,
Mesopotamia, Egypt, north Africa, Persia, Sind in northwestern India, and the Iberian peninsula.
Despite the military success, political problems, usually centering around the selection of
caliphs, remained a constant challenge. A fundamental split in Islam between Sunni
(“traditionalists”) and Shia (“party”) grew out of this conflict. The majority Sunni felt that
leadership could be held by any true believer. Shia began as a sect that believed that the
caliphate had to be in the hands of descendants of the assassinated fourth caliph Ali, who was a
cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.
Eventually this political chaos led to the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty (661–
750), centered around the city of Damascus. The Arab military aristocracy enjoyed a favored
position under the Umayyads, which caused tensions among the different ethnic and religious
groups of the dar al-Islam. Conquered peoples were allowed to practice their own religions but
were forced to pay the jizya. Non-Arabic Muslims also felt restrained under the Umayyad rule.
A rebellion in Persia led by Abu al-Abbas brought an end to the Umayyad dynasty and
the beginning of the Abbasid dynasty (750–1258). The Abbasid dynasty was both more tolerant
and more cosmopolitan than its predecessor. Even though the Abbasid caliphs did not actively
push for expansion, Crete, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, Cyprus, Rhodes, Sardinia, Corsica,
southern Italy, and southern France were added to the empire. The Abbasid state, made its
capital the new city of Baghdad, and copied administrative techniques from the Persians.
Officials such as the ulama and gadis created a standing army and oversaw taxation, finance and
postal, services. The reign of Harun al-Rashid (786–809) would serve as the high point of
Abbasid economic and artistic splendor. Decline followed quickly, however, and for the last two
centuries the Abbasids were effectively ruled by the Saljuq Turks. The Mongols brought a
definitive end to the Abbasid state with their conquest in 1258.
Economy and Society of the Early Islamic World
A zone of trade and communication stretching from Spain to India was created by the
conquests of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. New crops, including sugarcane, rice,
spinach, oranges, lemons, bananas, cotton, and new varieties of wheat, were introduced into
different regions along this route. The result was an increase in good supplies and a richer and
more varied diet. Cotton would prove to be the most important of the new crops. Increased
trade and agricultural production fostered the rapid urban growth of cities like Delhi, Isfahan,
Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Cordoba. Industrial production, most notably of
paper, was part of this general expansion. Muhammad’s admiration for merchants only helped to
promote the creation of this huge trading zone. Maritime trade, bolstered by the use of the
compass, astrolabe, and lateen sail, also expanded. Banking and innovations in business
organization provided the capital for trade. Even distant Spain, known as al-Andalus, shared in
the prosperity. Cordoba quickly became one of the great Islamic cities of the world.
The status of women fluctuated during this period in the Islamic world. Although
undeniably members of a patriarchal society, Arab women had enjoyed the right to inherit
property or engage in business dealings. The Quran presented women as honorable individuals
and had outlawed female infanticide. At the same time, the Quran, and especially the sharia,
stressed male dominance. Men determined the nature and extent of the social and sexual lives of
women. If anything, Islam’s expansion into Mesopotamia and Persia brought even greater
patriarchal influences, most notably veiling.
Islamic Values and Cultural Exchanges
In the face of an increasingly cosmopolitan Islamic world, the Quran and the sharia
promoted cultural unity. Officials such as the ulama and qadis and institutions of higher
education like the madrasas attempted to do the same thing. The Sufis, with their emphasis on
an emotional and mystical rather than intellectual connection to Allah, served as effective
missionaries. Sufi thinkers like al-Ghazali stressed that the human intellect was too weak to truly
understand Allah. A more heartfelt devotion was the key. The hajj, by bringing pilgrims from
all over the Islamic world to Mecca, also created a sense of unity.
While Muslims spread the faith to distant lands, they were also influenced by other
cultures. The Persian influence comes through most clearly in literature, poetry, history, and
political theory. The Arabian Nights and Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat were very popular in the
Islamic world. Indian innovations in mathematics, science, and medicine passed through the
Islamic world and on into Europe. Greek philosophy, including Plato and most notably
Aristotle, provided an intellectual challenge for Islamic thinkers. In turn, Ibn Rushd’s work on
Aristotle shaped the rise of European scholasticism. Muslim scholars also further developed
Greek mathematics, science, and medicine.
Ch 13
II. New Islamic Empires
A. Mali in the Western Sudan
1. Islam spread to sub-Saharan Africa by a gradual process of peaceful conversion. Conversion was
facilitated by commercial contacts.
2. In 1240, Sundiata (the Muslim leader of the Malinke people) established the kingdom of Mali. Mali’s
economy rested on agriculture and was supplemented by control of regional and trans-Saharan trading
routes and by control of the gold mines of the Niger headwaters.
3. The Mali ruler Mansa Kankan Musa (r. 1312–1337) demonstrated his fabulous wealth during a
pilgrimage to Mecca. When he returned to Mali, Mansa Musa established new mosques and Quranic
schools.
4. The kingdom of Mali declined and collapsed in the mid- to late fifteenth century because of rebellions
from within and attacks from without. Intellectual life and trade moved to other African states, including
the Hausa states and Kanem-Bornu.
B. The Delhi Sultanate in India
1. Between 1206 and 1236, the divided states of northwest India were defeated by violent Muslim
Turkish conquerors under the leadership of Sultan Iltutmish, who established the Delhi Sultanate as a
Muslim state. Although the Muslim elite then settled down to rule India relatively peacefully, their Hindu
subjects never forgave the violence of the conquest.
2. Iltutmish passed his throne on to his daughter, Raziya. Raziya was a talented ruler, but she was driven
from office by men unwilling to accept a female monarch. Under Alaud- din (r. 1296–1316) and
Muhammad ibn Tughluq (r. 1325–1351), the Delhi Sultanate carried out a policy of aggressive territorial
expansion that was accompanied (in the case of Tughluq) by a policy of religious toleration toward
Hindus—a policy that was reversed by Tughluq’s successor.
3. In general, the Delhi sultans ruled by terror and were a burden on their subjects. In the mid-fourteenth
century, internal rivalries and external threats undermined the stability of the sultanate. The sultanate was
destroyed when Timur sacked Delhi in 1398.
Chapter 19 SW Asia and the Indian Ocean: The Islamic Empires
IN PERSPECTIVE
Three Islamic empires—the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals—dominated a huge extent
of territory ranging from eastern Europe and northern Africa in the west to India in the east
during the early modern age. Their control over the Eurasian land and sea trade routes made
their influence even greater. All three dynasties had their roots in nomadic Turkish-speaking
peoples of central Asia. Although they embraced new urban and agricultural concepts, they
never forgot their intellectual and social roots among the people of the steppes. During the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these dynasties were politically, economically, and militarily
dominant. By the eighteenth century these empires, for a variety of reasons, had either collapsed
or were significantly weakened.
OVERVIEW
Formation of the Islamic Empires
All three dynasties had reasonably humble origins as small warrior states on the frontier.
The Ottomans developed from a small northwestern Turkish tribe under the control of Osman
Bey in the thirteenth century. Their position on the border between the Islamic and Christian
worlds gave the Ottomans an early sense of mission. They viewed themselves as ghazi, or
Islamic religious warriors. Their passionate desire for conquest and religious expansion was
backed by a powerful military machine. Janissaries, because they had been taken from the
Balkans as children and hence knew no other world, were completely loyal to the sultan and
formed an impressive fighting force. In 1453 Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople, and the
resulting establishment of Istanbul, laid the groundwork for what was arguably the greatest
empire in history after that of the Romans. It peaked during the sixteenth century under the reign
of Suleyman the Magnificent. His conquests, both on land and at sea, left much of southwest
Asia, northern Africa, and southeastern Europe under Ottoman control. The Ottomans referred
to the sultan as Suleyman the Lawgiver, in recognition of his influential law code.
Further east the Safavids, although they would never match the might of the Ottomans,
possessed a powerful army and a state made rich by trade. Nevertheless, their longest-lasting
influence would be the Twelver Shiism of the dynasty’s founder, Shah Ismail. Although the
Safavids traced their lineage back to a thirteenth-century Sufi mystic named Safi al-Din, in the
early sixteenth century Shah Ismail made the decision to embrace Twelver Shiism. Shah
Ismail’s inspiration for this decision, whether truly a case of religious conversion or merely
political opportunism, remains a mystery. Whatever Shah Ismail’s motives, the conversion to
Twelver Shiism forged a link with the qizilbash and gave the Safavids a sense of leadership in
the Islamic world. The devastating loss to the Ottomans at Chaldiran in 1514, however, almost
ended the dynasty before it began. Safavid rulers who followed Shah Ismail made greater use of
technology and closed the gap with the Ottomans. Shah Abbas the Great brought the empire to
its greatest heights.
In the early sixteenth century Zahir al-Din Muhammad (Babur, or “tiger”), a descendant
of Chinggis Khan and Tamerlane, conquered India. Unlike the Ottomans or Safavids, Zahir alDin Muhammad founded his Mughal dynasty solely because of his dream of empire and fame
and not from a sense of religious purpose. Unavoidably, however, the rule of the Islamic
Mughals over the Hindu Indian population generated religious tension. A desire to decrease this
religious animosity through an enlightened policy of toleration was the hallmark of the rule of
Akbar in the second half of the sixteenth century. Akbar even went so far as to create a syncretic
religion combining elements of the different religions of India, the “divine faith.” Ironically, this
effort was accepted much more readily by the Hindus than by the strongly monotheistic
Mughals. The seventeenth-century reign of Aurangzeb marked not only the high point of the
Mughal Empire geographically but also the beginning of a decline caused by the emperor’s
decision to reverse Akbar’s policy of religious toleration.
Imperial Islamic Society
All three Islamic states placed tremendous power in the hands of the emperors. Powerful
armies, which stood at the center of much of the empires’ success, were under the personal
command of the emperor. The Islamic goal of spreading the faith to other lands also empowered
the emperors to conquer new territory. Steppe traditions not only gave the emperors tremendous
latitude carrying out their own agenda but also ensured continual problems with the succession.
From the time of Mehmed II, it was legal for the new Ottoman sultan to kill off his brothers,
usually in the classic Turko-Mongol fashion of strangulation by silk bow-string. Although
women were supposed to have no voice in politics, they increasingly played a role behind the
scenes, if not openly, through the politics of the harem. Hurrem Sultana, one of Suleyman the
Magnificent’s concubines, convinced the sultan to have his first son executed.
In the Islamic empires, although to a lesser extent than in Europe, the Columbian
exchange introduced American crops such as maize, potatoes, and tomatoes. Two other new
agricultural products, coffee and tobacco, were popular but officially frowned on (and
occasionally outlawed). A population surge followed the increase in food supply. Between 1500
and 1800 the population of India increased from 105 million to 190 million; the population of the
Safavid Empire went from 5 million to 8 million; and the population of the Ottoman Empire rose
from 9 million to 28 million. The position of these empires at the heart of east-west trade
ensured that they would grow wealthy. Islamic rulers consciously strove to make their large
cities centers for trade, with the best example being the Safavid capital of Isfahan. As is
common in empires this large, each society contained tremendous religious diversity, despite
their designation as Islamic. While the rulers may have actively promoted Islam, conquered
peoples were usually considered dhimmi, or protected people, and allowed to follow their own
religious beliefs. Occasionally, rulers such as Aurangzeb created turmoil by recognizing only
Islam. Royal patronage ensured that cities such as Suleyman’s Istanbul, Shah Abbas’s Isfahan,
and Akbar’s Fatepur Sikri became major cultural, artistic, and intellectual centers. The
magnificence of Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal speaks volumes about the splendor of Mughal India.
The Empires in Transition
By the eighteenth century the three Islamic empires were in a state of serious decline.
Not surprisingly, they shared many of the same problems. As so often seems to be the case, the
greatest rulers of each dynasty ruled in the early days of expansion. A series of less competent
leaders followed. In the Ottoman example, bloodshed caused by squabbles over the succession
resulted in the heirs being left to lead lives of profligacy in the harem. Religious tensions
increasingly haunted the Islamic empires. The irony is that one of the great strengths of the three
dynasties had been their early religious toleration. Conservative religious clerics put pressure on
the rulers to restrict the rights of non-Muslims. Many of the same conservative religious leaders
led a backlash against western technology. Eventually the empires fell far behind the Europeans
in technology and military proficiency. Finally, the European push across the Atlantic and
around the southern tip of Africa financially devastated the Islamic empires by changing the
trade routes.
The Ottoman Empire in Decline
As the nineteenth century dawned the Ottoman Empire was shrinking. The loss of
Greece, Serbia, and especially Egypt damaged Ottoman prestige and economic might. Unequal
trading agreements with the western Europeans, known as capitulations, made the economic
situation even more dire. Attempts at reform were blocked by governmental corruption and the
power of the Janissaries. Mahmud II was only able to bring about western European-inspired
military and educational reforms by first slaughtering a large number of Janissaries. The years
from 1839 to 1876, known as the Tanzimat or “reorganization” era, brought about legal reform
based on the French model. Nevertheless, the Tanzimat reformers faced opposition from devout
Muslims, corrupt bureaucrats, and the Young Ottomans. Sultan Abdül Hamid II (1876–1909)
suspended the constitution and ruled despotically but also built railroads and continued to
modernize the army and educational system. The Young Turks dethroned Abdül Hamid II and
pushed forward a program calling for universal suffrage, equality before the law, freedom of
religion, free public education, secularization of the state, and the emancipation of women.
Unfortunately, the Young Turks’ insistence on Turkish as the official language of the empire
caused dissension in the heterogeneous Ottoman Empire.