Download Abbasid Decline & The Spread of Islamic Civilization

Abbasid Decline & The
Spread of Islamic
Civilization
Stearns Chapter 7
Trouble in the Abbasid Empire
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After only one hundred years, during the Abbasid Caliphate begin to
lose control over the Muslim Empire
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Imperial excesses
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Unimaginable wealth in Baghdad
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Excessive and extravagant mosque and palace construction
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Thousands of imperial followers: wives, concubines, aides,
eunuchs
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Political Problems
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Still succession questions: no choice with regard to which son would
follow, wives compete for their child. Sometimes resulting in civil war.
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Caliphs begin amassing personal armies costing great wealth
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Some caliphs build extravagant palaces outside Baghdad to escape
the violence of the city-More money!
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Conflicts with Shi’a
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Heavily taxed peasantry; protests and uprisings follow
Frequent revolts and assassination attempts
Political advisors (wazir) gain power and influence (Jafar)!
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Territorial loss in the hinterlands of the empire
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Independent kingdoms arise in some areas
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The Buyids of Persia capture Baghdad in 945 (don’t need to know)
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Caliphs now puppets for these newcomers
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Buyid eventually supplanted by Seljuk Turks from Central Asia
(Need to know)
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More expansion through Byzantine lands: Asia Minor
The Declining Role of Women
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Creation of the harem in the Abbasid court
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Wives and concubines restricted to forbidden quarters of the palace
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Sometimes slaves (male and female) had it better than the wives and
concubines of the caliph
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Wealthy women allowed no careers beyond the home
The Crusades
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Begun in 1096 by Pope Urban II: Christian knights and armies
fighting to take the Christian holy lands out of Muslim control
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Initially successful
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Wars raged for almost two hundred years
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Saladin unites Muslim forces in the late 12th century to retake
Jerusalem and most Christian outposts (Kingdom of Heaven)
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Probably more influential on Europe than on the Islamic World
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Remember, wars bring a lot of Cultural Diffusion (in this
case, more of a one-way thing)
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Recovery of Greek learning
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Arabic Numerals and decimals (From India)
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Chess (from India too)
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Desire for rugs and tapestries
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Sciences and mathematics
The Abbasid Paradox
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As the empire suffered political turmoil, Islamic civilization reached its
heights of creativity (Flowering of Islamic Learning / Golden Age)
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Trade
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Great sea trading routes connecting Mediterranean Europe to
India and Southeast Asia
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Overland Routes to China
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Tremendous Mosque and palace construction
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Exquisite rugs and tapestries
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Classical Literature
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The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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The Shah-Nama of Firdawsi
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Sciences
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Preservation of earlier civilizations
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Advances in algebra, geometry and trigonometry
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Chemistry
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Objective experimentation
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Classification systems
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Astronomy
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Medicine & Hospitals
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Introductions from China: papermaking, silk-weaving, ceramic
firing
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Cartography
New Religious Trends
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Growth of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam
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Orthodox (conservative) scholars, ulama, reject the influence of nonIslamic ideas
The End of the Caliphate
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By the 13th Century, threats from Mongol invaders topple the
Abbasids
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Chinggis Khan raids the eastern Persian kingdoms
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His grandson Hulegu takes Baghdad
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The Mongols continued to push west only to be defeated by the
Mamluks: Turkic slaves ruling Egypt
Moving East
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As the Islamic world grew-it moved not only to the West, but also to the
East.
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Under Muhammad ibn Qasim, the empire would take Sind, northwest
of India. For the most part, they were welcomed by the people.
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Initially, Islam would gain more from India than India would from
Islam
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Indian achievements passed on to the Muslim world
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Trading posts and Islamic settlements established along the
coast
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Conflict and choice between Hinduism & Islam
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The second wave of Islamic incursion proved more successful
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Islamic world would take the Northern swath of India for
centuries
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Called the Sultans of Delhi, these would be ruled as military
states for centuries (Delhi Sultanate)
Conversion & Accommodation
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Lower caste Hindus most likely to convert
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Great numbers of Buddhist conversions
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Muslim refugees from northern Mongol conflicts increased Islamic
numbers
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Hindu leadership thought the newcomers would simply adopt Hindu
culture, to some extent they did, but never the religion.
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New Hindu cults, open to all, formed to stem the rate of conversion
(religions adapt when threatened)
Southeast Asia
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Once again, Islamic trading led to influence and spread of the faith
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Peaceful contacts and conversion, rather than force
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Where Buddhism was weak or elitist, Islam entered
In Closing...
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Islam linked classical societies by conquest and commerce
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Overall, the Islamic (and Christian) capacity for accommodation to
local customs allowed their dramatic growth and spread
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Problems in the future
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Political instability and weakness caused divisions in some regions
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Orthodox ulama resisted outside knowledge and influence