Download The Rise of Islam 632 - 1200

The Rise of Islam 632 - 1200
After Muhammad’s death, Abu
Bakr chosen Caliph or successor
• Continues belief in 5 Pillars
• Continues fight to consolidate Muslim
authority in Arabia and non-Arab areas in
Iraq.
• (630) Orders Muhammad’s secretaries to
compile his revelations into a book, the Quran
or recitation.
• Muslims regard Quran not as words of
Muhammad, but as unalterable words of God.
Ka’ba/Hajj
Five Pillars
Koran
Wars of Succession
• After much political intrigue, the Sunnis
establish the Umayyad Caliphate.
• Husayn (Shiia) revolts in 680 to
reestablish the right of Ali’s family to
rule.
• Husayn and his family are killed by
forces loyal to the caliph.
Rise & Fall of the Caliphate,
632 - 1258
• Arab conquests outside Arabia
• Syria & Egypt from Byzantine Empire
• 711 Tunisia & Spain by Arab led army
composed of Berbers.
• 1000s conquest of India, Anatolia
• Also exported peacefully by trade in sub
Saharan Africa.
Decision made to prohibit Arab armies
from owning conquered territories - do get
regular pay & “booty.”
• Live in large camps in Iraq, Egypt &
Tunisia
• Preserves status quo in countryside
where non Arab locals do not
understand Arabic
• Self isolating ruling minority lives on
taxes on non-Muslims - thus no
incentive for missionary outreach
Umayyad rule from Damascus
• Adopt administrative practices of
Sasanid & Byzantine predecessors
Umayyad Caliphate falls in
750
• Non Arab converts resented inequality
• Arabs of Iraq resent Syrian influence in
political affairs.
• Pious Muslims felt caliphs were irreligious
• Shiites attacked Umayyad family's legitimacy.
(One rebellion brings down Umayyad.
However, one branch escapes to Spain and
establishes kingdom).
Abbasid Caliphate 750 - 1258
• Starts as Shiite soon becomes Sunni.
• Seat of power was transferred from Syria to
Iraq with the building of the city of Baghdad.
Administration was placed in the hands of the
Persian Barmakid family
• Sasanid Persian models of court etiquette
and government were introduced into the
Abbasid style of rulership.
Increasingly non Arabs
convert
• Greek, Persian, African & Central Asians
convert leading to a more secular &
urbanized rule.
• Desert traditions replaced by poetry, wine &
the like
• The reign of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) is
widely regarded as the apex of Abbasid
power and achievement. Often referred to as
a “Golden Age”. Great works from Greek,
Persian & Indian are translated
Scherazade & Gold Dinar
Signs of Weakness
• Influence of regime is minimal in
countryside
• Egypt stays mainly Coptic
• Iran never adopts Arabic as spoken
language
• Berber speaking N. Africans rebel &
leave
850 - 1050 Political Fragmentation
as Caliph slowly losses power
• Breakaway groups don’t repudiate
Islam, but do cut tax revenue
• Lacking trust in troops from the
provinces, Caliph uses Turkic slaves
from central Asia called Mamluks.
• When unpaid can unseat Caliph.
• Move from Baghdad to Samsara
strengthens Mamluks
Samarra
Weakening from Inside
• Even in Iraq Abbasid authority was
fading. Extravagant expenditures, an
inflated bureaucracy, and dwindling
revenues produced financial chaos. The
caliphs attempted to solve this problem
by granting tax-farms to governors and
military commanders, thus effectively
decentralizing and reducing Abbasid
authority
Shiite Control
• In 945, the Buyid Mu`izz al-Dawla
entered Baghdad, and the title
"Commander of Commanders" and
control of the Abbasid seat of power
passed into the hands of a Shi`ite
dynasty
Important Non Arabic
Literature
• Written in Persian with Arabic letters
• Growth in outlying provinces paralled
caliphate’s decline.
• 875 Samanids - Iranian family
established a glittering court in Bukhara,
a major city on the Silk Road in what is
now Uzbekistan.
Bukhara
Bukhara II
In N. Africa Berber Revolts
against Arabs 740
• Led to establishment of city states of
Sijilmasa and Tahert whose trade with
southern Sahara in salt and eventually
gold makes them wealthy.
Sijilmasa: Medieval City of
Gold
Ghana
• Earliest winner of gold trade. This “land
of gold” prospered until 1076 when it
was conquered by nomads.
Mansa Musa - Gold
North African city states
conquered by Fatamid Dynasty
• Established in Tunisia 909.
• Conquer Egypt in 969 & claim title of
caliph in challenge to Abassid.
• Wealth of gold trade establishes Egypt
as major center of Islamic culture.
Al-Andalus
• Umayyad Spain distinctive culture
blending Roman, Germanic, Jewish,
Arab & Berber traditions.
• Cordoba, Seville & Toledo governing
cities
• New citrus crops & advanced irrigation
gives it best agriculture in Europe
Al Andalus - Muslim Spain
Al-Andalus
• Some of greatest writers & thinkers in
Jewish history worked in Muslim Spain
such as Halevi & Maimonides.
• At same time Islamic thought also
flourished. Ibn Hazm, Ibn Rushd
(Averroes) are examples.
Decline
From the time of the Buyid occupation of
Baghdad until its destruction by the Mongols
in 1258, the Abbasid caliphate remained a
purely formal institution
After the dissolution of the Buyids in the mideleventh century, their place was filled by the
Turkish Seljuks, who took the title of Sultan.
Seljuk Turks
• Their rule reunified the Muslim state
from Syria to Tranoxiana and stamped
out the last Shi`ite revolutionary
movements in the area of their control;
these actions helped to enhance the
prestige of the caliphate against their
Fatimid rivals in Egypt.
Under Sunni Turkish rule
• Cities shrank, irrigation works suffered,
tax revenue fell.
• Seljuks decline around time First
Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099.
• New Empire led by Kurdish Saladin take
control of Egypt & Syria after Fatamid
Dynasty fell.
Saladin’s dynasty ends when, in 1250,
Turkish Mamluk troops seized control of
Cairo
• Mamluks defeat Mongols at Ain Jalut in
1260
• Rule Egypt & Syria until 1517
End of Abassid Caliphate
• With the breakup of the Seljuq sultanate in
the twelfth century, a power vacuum was left
in Iraq enabled the caliph al-Nasir (11801225) to make an attempt to restore Abbasid
power. However, his successors were
incompetent, and the last caliph in Iraq, alMu`tasim, was unable to offer any resistance
to the Mongols when they arrived in Baghdad
in 1258.
Mongols Under Hulagu Sack Baghdad
Islamic Civilization
• Shari’a - the law of Islam is the foundation of
their civilization.
• Hadith - studying precise words or deeds of
Muhammad help back the Shari’a. Sunnis
have 6 books of hadiths; Shi’ites 4.
• Shari’a important basis for urban lifestyle that
varied little from Morocco to India
Conversion
• Some convert to “get ahead”
• Others convert to escape tax on non Muslims
• Some convert from learning about new
rulers religion.
• Also, conversion is easy. Simply state
belief in front of a Muslim
Science & technology flourish
• Doctors and astronomers building on
Hellenistic traditions & their own
observations exceed Europeans.
Islam, Women & Slaves
• Seclusion of women & veiling in public
already existed in Sasanid & Byzantine
times. Now they become fixtures of
Muslim life.
• A man could have sex with as many
slave concubines as he wished, in
addition to marrying as many as 4
wives.
Islamic law gave women greater status
than Christian or Jewish law.
• Could remarry & get cash payment in a
divorce.
• Practice birth control
• Testify in court, but testimony counted
less than men
• Is a misogynistic tone in Islam.
Slavery
• Allowed but not to “people of the book”
• Prisoner of war enslavement exception
• Constant flow of slaves into Islamic
territory from Africa & central Asia
• No hereditary slave society develops