Download The Arabs

Lesson 5.
The Arabs
Learning tasks: by completing this unit of study, the student will be able to:
 Achieve a short presentation of the situation of pre-Islamic Arabia;
 Reveal the main aspects of the emergence of Islam;
 Retain the major moments of the Arab Conquests;
 Identify the main issues of the Arab society and the Arab State in the
Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate;
 Present some aspects of the dissolution of the Arab Caliphate.
1. Pre-Islamic Arabia
The space in which emerged the Arab society, the Arab State and
Mohammedanism was the Arabian Peninsula. Because of its warm and dry
climate, the Arabian Peninsula is covered in most of its by sandy deserts. Best
natural conditions are found only in Yemen and Hejaz, on the coast from
south-west and west of the Arabian Peninsula. In both regions, plant
cultivation, the sedentary growing of animals, crafts, merchandise and usury
led to a greater variety of occupations and the emergence of a growing social
differentiation. In the Arabian Peninsula were formed a tribal aristocracy
which possessed large herds of animals and lands, merchants and
moneylenders (especially in Mecca), craftsmen, farmers, animal growers and
slaves. In contrast, in the interior regions of the Arabian Peninsula, where the
main occupation is the nomadic growing of animals, the social differentiation
and dissolution of the tribal relations among the nomadic tribes or Bedouin
took place at a slower pace. In Mecca and Yathreb the power was held by the
tribal aristocracy and by the peaks of merchants and usurers. Each tribe had
its own deities. The religious center of the Arabs tribes was in Mecca, which
becomes the traditional place of the contacts of the pre-Islamic Arabian world
and here was the Arabian pantheon, the Kaaba temple.
*
2. The Emergence of Islam
The emergence of Islam has been prepared by the existence in preIslamic Arab beliefs of the conceptions about a main deity (Allah) and by the
influence of the Jewish and Christian conceptions about a unique deity (Jahve,
God). The creator of the new religion and its preacher was Muhammad (ca.
570-632 C.E.). His exposures were collected in Quran, which contains the basic
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
teachings of Islam. According to the Quran, the Muslim is obliged to respect
the following basic Commandments of Islam:
 Shahadah. "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger
of God".
 Salah. Muslims must pray five times every day at set times. These begin
early in the morning and ending just after dark.
 Zakat. It is a charitable tax for those in need. Also, Zakat was used to
free slaves and help poor travelers.
 Sawm. During the month of Ramadan, from sunrise to sunset, Muslims
must abstain from food, drink and sex.
 Hajj. It is the fifth pillar of Islam. All Muslims who have money and
strength must make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Muhammad and his descendants proclaimed the Holy War (Djihad)
against non-Muslims, using it as a diversion intended to divert the poor
population from the social struggle and as a way to unite all Arabs by
organizing wars of conquest and plunder of large proportions.
At first, Muhammad gained adherents among the poor population of
Mecca. He aroused the hostility of the aristocracy and of the merchants of
this city. Muhammad and his followers were forced to withdraw from Mecca
to Yathreb, later called Medina (July 16, 622). The withdrawal of the Prophet
Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (Hegira) was adopted later as the start
date of the Muslim era.
Medina, whose inhabitants were mostly dissatisfied of the important
commercial role held by Mecca, Islam has gained more and more followers. In
Medina was created a strong Muslim community. Muslims from Medina
began to join and the tribes of Bedouin from desert. After several armed
clashes between Muslims and the people of Mecca, they reached an
agreement (630). Following this agreement, the people of Mecca accepted
Islam. Instead, Mecca was recognized as the holy city of Muslim and the
Kaaba temple became the sanctuary of Islam. The adoption of Islam by the
people of Mecca had a great politically and religiously effect which rushed
the unification of the Arab tribes and the adoption of Islam. On the death of
Muhammad (632), almost all Arabian Peninsula was unified politically and
religiously.
*
3. The Arab Conquests
After the death of Muhammad, were elected as successors of the
Prophet (caliphs) and religious and political leaders: Abu Bakr (632-634), Omar
(634-644), Othman (644-650) and Ali (656 -661).
At that time, the Byzantine Empire and Iran were shaken by internal
turmoil. Also these two great neighbors were in a long war, which weakened
2
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
them mutually. As a result of the victories over the Byzantines, the Arabs
conquered Syria and Palestine, including Jerusalem (635-640), and Egypt (639642). Beating the Persians, the Arabs conquered Iraq and until 651 they fully
occupied Iran. In the second half of the seventh century the Arabs occupied
North Africa from the Byzantines and from here, in 711, they crossed into
Spain, on which they occupied in a few years. The great Arab conquests could
be stopped only between the 2 nd and the 5th decades of the eighth century.
The Arabs were forced to leave the siege of Constantinople (717-718) and to
retreat in the front of the French army in the Battle of Poitiers (732). In the Battle
of Talas River (751) the Arabs obtained an overwhelming victory over the
Chinese army. But the Chinese resistance forced the Arabs to stop their
expansion to the East.
After these conquests, the Arabs created a vast Arab state (or
Caliphate), which included the Arabian Peninsula, Middle East, Iran, North
Africa and Spain.
*
4. The Arab society and the Arab State in the Umayyad and Abbasid
Caliphate.
The Arab conquests had as a consequence the formation of a large
Arab state (or Caliphate), led by caliphs which had both political and
religious power.
Although the Arab dominion tried to unify the Caliphate, which
included populations which were different as stages of socioeconomic
development, as forms of political organization, as culture and religion level,
in a unitary whole, the particular elements led to its dissolution.
In the Arab Caliphate entered countries with a higher level of
economic development than in the Arabian Peninsula. During the Arab
domination, a series of agricultural and craft techniques from Egypt, Syria,
Iraq, Iran and from neighboring countries like India and China, have spread
across the Arab world and even beyond its borders. Parallel with plant
cultivation and animal growing, the crafts took a strong development,
especially in the large urban centers like Samarkand, Bukhara, Isfahan,
Baghdad, Damascus, Mosul, Basra, Alexandria, Cordoba, Toledo. Craftsmen
from Caliphate were remarkable in the field of civil and religious
constructions, of the production of weaving, weapons, pottery, glassware,
jewelry. The development of agricultural production and crafts led to the
increasing of the internal and external trade. Also, the Arab Caliphate had an
important role in the development of the transit trade. On the Caliphate
territory circulated numerous caravans which transported goods of the Orient
to Europe.
3
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
The Arab conquests and the formation of the Arab State generated
profound social transformations, among the Arabs but also among the
population from the conquered countries. The Arab conquests put in contact
the Arab society, which was in the phase of dissolution of the tribal relations,
with the more advanced society of the conquered countries. As a whole, in the
Arab state the feudal relations were formed between the 7 th century and the
9th century, but maintaining however large differences in terms of the pace
and the level of feudalization between its different regions.
In the Arab State feudalization held in the conditions of the existence of
the State ownership over the entire land fund on which had only the Caliph,
in principle. In the terms of the state property over land were distinct
ownership categories:
 Savafi. Caliphs and their family members had large properties which
could be transmitted hereditary.
 Vakuf. The Muslim religious institutions had extensive properties with
an inalienable character.
 Mülk. The old owners had kept their fields with the Caliph
confirmation and these could be bequeathed or given to someone
else.
 Ikta. An increasingly important role began to have the conditional
property. This property was assigned by the Caliph from the state
owned land for military or civilian jobs. Ikta was conditioned by the
fulfilling of the job for which it was granted. In the Abbasid Caliphate
began to manifest ever more the trend to turn it into a life and
hereditary property.
The Arab conquests and the creation of the Arab state were followed by
profound political transformations. As a result of the entry of large and
civilized countries into the Arab state, the political gravity center of the
Caliphate moved from the Arabian Peninsula to Syria and then to Iraq. The
first four caliphs relied almost exclusively on the Arab forces of the Arabian
Peninsula. But, from the middle of the seventh century began to manifest
more strongly the role of the Arab aristocracy who emigrated to Syria and of
the wealthy merchants from here.
In 661, Muawiyah I, the Arab governor of Syria, took the power and
established the Umayyad dynasty (661-750). The residence of the Arab
Caliphate was moved to Damascus (Syria). Hostility towards the Umayyad
dynasty and its supporters from Syria has increased in the first half of the
eighth century. Their opponents were grouped around the powerful family of
Abbasids, descendants of Abbas, an uncle of Mohammed. They emigrated to
Iraq.
A large revolutionary movement broke out in 747 in Iran, gathering
together, under the leadership of Abū Muslim, many peasants and townsmen.
This revolt expanded in the following years in Syria and Iraq. Abu-al-Abbas, a
4
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
descendant of the Prophet's family, took advantage of the revolt. He attracted
to his side a part of the army, managed to overthrow the last Umayyad
Caliph, Marwān II (which was defeated and killed in 750) and establish the
Abbasid dynasty (750-1258). The new dynasty moved the capital of the
Abbasid Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad, the new city built by
Al Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph, on the Tigris river. The most important
Abbasid Caliphs were Al Mansur (747-775), Harun al Rashid (786-809) and
Al-Ma'mun (813-833).
*
5. The dissolution of the Arab Caliphate
The Arab Caliphate was composed of countries with different
economic and social levels of development. Also, it was inhabited by various
populations which speak different languages and have different religion or
historical traditions. In these conditions, the factors of weakening and
dissolution of the Caliphate increased continuously.
The dissolution of the Arab Caliphate began in the mid eighth century
and was accelerated during the 9th century and the 10th century. One by one,
from the Arab Caliphate were separated Spain, where was established the
Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba (750) and then the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba
(929); Tunisia and Algeria, led by the Aghlabid dynasty; Morocco, led by Idrisid
dynasty; Egypt, ruled by the Tulunid dynasty and then the Fatimid dynasty, etc.
The power of Caliph has decreased continuously.
The Arabs continued incursions and conquests in the western and the
eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea. The new Arab offensive was
facilitated by the fragmentation of the states which appeared from the
dissolution of the Carolingian Empire and by the weakening of the Byzantine
Empire. Fleets of corsairs and Arab armies from North Africa conquered
Crete (826) and began the conquest of Sicily (827). Southern regions of Italy
also had to suffer because of the incursions of the Arab corsairs. In the eastern
Mediterranean, the Arab offensive was stopped in the tenth century by the
Byzantine Empire, which recaptured Crete (961). In the western
Mediterranean, until the end of the eleventh century, the Normans from
South of Italy removed the Arabs from the Italian Peninsula and Sicily. At
that same time, the Pisans and the Genoese removed the Arab corsairs from
the Tyrrhenian Sea.
*
5
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
Homework
Elaborate an essay with the title: The Caliphate of Córdoba
References:
 Azizur Rahman, Syed, The Story of Islamic Spain, New Delhi, Goodword
Books, 2001.
 Barton, Simon, A History of Spain, New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.
 Chejne, Anwar G., Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, Minneapolis, The
University of Minnesota Press, 1974.
 Coope, Jessica, Martyrs of Córdoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of
Mass Conversion, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
 Fletcher, Richard, Moorish Spain, Orion, 2001.
 Kennedy, Hugh N., Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus,
London, Longman, 1996.
 Reilly, Bernard F., The Medieval Spains, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 1993.
 Najeebabadi, Akbar, The History of Islam, vol. 3., Riyadh, Darussalam, 2001.
 Scales, Peter, Fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba, New York, EJ Brill, 1994.
 Wasserstein, David, The Caliphate in the West: An Islamic Political Institution in
the Iberian Peninsula, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993.
Bibliography:















Ablai, M., Arabii. De la Mecca la Cordoba, Ed. Ştiinţifică, Bucureşti, 1968.
Anghelescu, Nadia, Introducere în Islam, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, 1993.
Armstrong, Karen, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, Harpercollins, 1992.
Bogle, Emory C., Islam: Origin and Belief, Texas University Press, 1998.
Brown, Daniel, A New Introduction to Islam, Blackwell Publishing Professional,
2003.
Cahen, Cl., L’Islam des origines au début de l’empire ottoman, Paris, 1970.
Fregosi, Paul, Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st
Centuries, Prometheus Books, 1998.
Hawting, G. R., The first dynasty of Islam: the Umayyad caliphate, AD 661–750,
London, Rutledge Eds., 2000.
Hourani, Albert, Ruthven, Malise, A History of the Arab Peoples, Belknap Press,
revised edition, 2003.
Kennedy, Hugh, When Baghdad Ruled The Muslim World, Cambridge, Da Capo
Press, 2004.
Kennedy, Hugh, The Great Arab Conquests, Orion, 2010.
Lewis, Bernard, The Arabs in History, Oxford University Press, 2002.
Manolescu, Radu (ed.), Istoria medie universală, Ed. Didactică şi Pedagogică,
Bucureşti, 1980, p. 101-107.
Nicolle, David, Armies of the Muslim Conquest (Men-at-Arms), Osprey
Publishing, 1993.
Peters, Francis Edward, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, SUNY Press, 1994.
6
Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History
 Peterson, Daniel, Muhammad, Prophet of God, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2007.
 Pirenne, Henri, Mohammed and Charlemagne, Courier Dover Publications,
2001.
 Wellhausen, J., The Arab Kingdom and its fall, London, 2000.
 Watt, W. Montgomery, Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford University Press, 1953.
 Watt, W. Montgomery, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford University Press, 1956.
*
* *
7