Download Lecture for SS2 Asian Studies, prepared by Martin Benedict Perez

Lecture for SS2 Asian Studies, prepared by Martin Benedict Perez, PSHS Main Campus
I.
Setting the Stage
II.
The Prophet
III. The Rise of Islam
A. The Question of Succession
B. The Golden Age of Islam
C. Fragmentation and Consolidation
Before the Prophet
Islam was born in a desert
town, but its story stretched
far beyond the borders of the
Arabian peninsula.
Understanding its history will
require a comprehension of
the size and scale of the Asian
continent.
The following section is an overview of the history of Southwest
Asia up until the major empires that surrounded Arabia at the
dawn of Islam.
Trade in aromatics (such as frankincense and myrrh) and spices
connected ancient Arabia, Egypt, India, and Africa.
Mecca was one of the key cities
along this route.
The Incense Road connects with the Silk Road.
TRIVIA: Who were the ‘Three Wise Men’?
From the Gospel of Matthew: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time
of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, Where is the one who has
been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him...
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down
and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of
gold and of incense and of myrrh.”
A Magi was an astronomer and a
follower of Zoroaster.
To the east of Judea is Persia.
Gold, frankincense and myrrh
were all goods traded along the
Incense Road.
The Birth of Islam
By 600CE, at the dawn of Islam’s birth,
The Christian Byzantine Empire in Europe and the Zoroastrian
Sasanid Empire were exhausting each other through a rivalry that
would end by 627.
In the Arabian peninsula, the caravan town of Mecca was quickly
becoming a prosperous trading center, ushering in urban and
commercial changes that put pressure on traditional institutions.
Throughout Arabia were the Bedouin tribes who lived on herding
and sporadic raids (ghazu) on settlements and caravans.
Tribes were bound together by the muruwah spirit which
emphasized courage in battle, patience in suffering, and vengeance
to protect the tribe.
Most of the tribes were polytheistic, and Mecca served not only as a
trading center but a place for the different tribes to house their idols
in the Kabah.
Tribes living closer to the Byzantine and Persian empires were
exposed to Judaism and Christianity, thus the concept of a
monotheistic faith is not alien to the Arabs.
The Bedouin were gifted poets; oral recitation was a sacred ritual.
Muhammad (570 to 632) was raised an orphan in a
less well-to-do tribe called the Quraysh.
He married Khadija and exposed himself to the
commercial lifestyle in Mecca.
However, he grew increasingly troubled by the idolatry,
worldliness, and lack of social conscience around him.
This opened him up to a profound religious experience
that would change his life when he was 40 years old.
First of all, Muhammad wasn’t well
received in his home town of Mecca.
His preaching against their traditional gods
and goddesses threatened both (a) their
ancestral ways and (b) the Meccan
pilgrimage shrine and the lucrative trade it
attracted.
He fled Mecca in 622 for the town of
Yathrib (later Medina) who requested his
wisdom in helping them resolve a conflict.
The migration to Medina in 622 is called the
hijrah. It is the start of the Muslim calendar
and the beginning of the first ummah.
Allegiance to the ummah
Honesty in public and personal affairs
Modesty in personal habits
Abstention from alcohol and pork
Fair division of inheritances
Improved treatment of women
Careful regulation of marriage and divorce
Muslim faith is concretized in the Five Pillars of Islam
which had an underlying social justice message.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Shahadah
Zakat
Sawm
Salat
Hajj
(profession of faith)
(charity)
(fasting)
(ritual prayer)
(pilgrimage to Mecca)
Muhammad made faith and harmony among people
accessible so long as they ‘submit’ to Allah.
In addition, Muhammad did not see himself as the
initiator of a new tradition, but the ‘restorer’ of the
original message of God.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
The unity of God
Angels
Scriptures (the Quran)
Prophet-messengers
The Last Day
They regarded Jews and Christians as ‘The People of the
Book’ who were spiritually superior over the polytheists.
In 630, Muhammad
triumphantly returns to Mecca.
He casts out idols from the
Kabah, declaring the supremacy
of the one true God.
A tribal confederation is bound
by personal allegiance to
Muhammad and submission to
God.
An Empire of Faith
After Muhammad died in 632, the question
immediately turns to who will succeed him.
Abu Bakr, his most gifted student, assumed command of
the ummah. He is called the caliph.
“O Men, if you have been worshipping Muhammad,
then know that Muhammad is dead. But if you have
been worshipping Allah, then know that Allah is living
and never dies.”
With this, the ummah transcends loyalty to a particular
person, but to God himself.
However, some contested that the successor should be
a relative of the prophet.
His closest relative, his cousin Ali, became the caliph in
656 but was largely contested by rival parties.
He was murdered in 661 and his bloodline was eradicated
when his son, Husayn, was murdered at Karbala, in Iraq,
at the year 680.
Loyalists (partisans, Shia) of Ali claim he is the true imam.
Other claimants to the title imam soon followed.
Jihad is mistakenly
translated as ‘holy
war’. It simply means
‘struggle’.
It can refer to a
person’s internal
struggle against
temptation and sin.
It can also refer to an external struggle against those
who may invade or harm the Dar al-Islam (the Abode of
Islam).
1. The Byzantine and Persian empires were weak and vulnerable.
2. Islam bound the once separated tribes together. Coupled with
their experience in warfare, this contributed to incredibly high
asabiya.
3. Other people were ready to accept Islam, especially with its
emphasis on having no clergy and focus on social justice.
4. Muslims were tolerant and protected their subjects. They did
not force conversion and allowed others to continue with their
own faith and laws provided they pay a tax (jizyah).
5. Muslims adopted existing systems of government and trade.
The Golden Age of Islam
The Umayyad and Abbasid periods are considered “The High
Caliphate” where a politically strong, culturally vibrant, and
economically wealthy system led to a “Golden Age” for Islam.
During the Abbasid dynasty, the following emerged:
1. Ulama (“persons of right knowledge”) argued that Muslim law must be
derived from the practices (sunnah) and sayings (hadith) of the Prophet
Muhammad, the Perfect Man.
2. Shariah law became the Muslim’s definitive guide for legal, social,
commercial, political, ritual and moral concerns.
3. Sunni Islam was concretized, following three prinicples
1.
2.
3.
The umma is a theocracy, ruled by shariah law
The caliph is charged with administering the ummah and protecting
the Dar al-Islam.
A person who professes the shahadah is a Muslim, and those who
commit a mortal sin is excluded from the ummah.
Fragmentation and Consolidation
In the final years of the Abbasid, the caliphate weakened as
power devolved to local leaders such as the amir and religious
authorities such as the ulama.
One can argue that Islam has a historical tendency to be
fragmented (as opposed to China which had a tendency towards
unification).
1. Islam is egalitarian; the Quran never really talks about
centralized authority.
2. Muslims were an inherently mercantile people. Trade and
commerce would flourish with or without the state.
The Muslim world was embroiled in a
conflict with Christianity. From 1095
to 1291, the Holy Roman Empire
fought to seize control of Jerusalem.
In 1216, Genghis Khan led the
Mongols into Persia and
Mesopotamia. By 1258, Baghdad is
burned and looted.
Between 1450 and 1650, Islamic culture and statecraft
blossomed. Instead of one universal empire however,
there emerged three, distinctively “Islamic” states.
•
•
•
Ottoman Empire in the Middle East
Safavid Empire in Iran
Mughal Empire in India
By 1700, Islamic civilization was as strong and vital as
Europe, Ming China, and Tokugawa Japan.