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Lecture Notes: Rise and Spread of Islam
Ch. 10
Section 1: The Rise of Islam
Map 261: Know
Arabian Peninsula Mecca Medina Damascus Baghdad Cordoba
Mecca c. 600 ce:
trade center
pilgrimage center
360 idols in Kaʼaba
monotheist Jews and Christians lived among Arabs there
Kaʼaba: sacred black stone associated with Abraham and Ishmael
Mohammad
born 570
little education
worked caravans
at 25, a businessman; married 40-year-old Khadija
610: at age 40, received message from angel Gabriel
“recite!” (“Qurʼan” = “recitation”)
was from Abrahamʼs god, Allah
Qurʼan
holy book of Islam
Muhammad “last of prophets”
Jewish Old Testament had prophets
Christian New Testament had prophets
Allah the “one true god”
All others false
“Islam” = “submit” / “obey”
sim. to Judaism: legalistic; cf. Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac to obey God
“Muslim” = “person who submits / obeys”
Preaches monotheism in Mecca
elites oppose this “radical”
bad for pilgrimage business
cf. Jesus attacking Jewish temple
622: Hejira
“hejira” = “flight” = “running away”
Muhammad flees to Medina
Unites Muslims and Jews there, politically
a just politician
Attracts converts
Raises army
630: Conquest of Mecca
brings 10,000 troops
Meccans surrender without resisting
Destroys “idols”
Imposes monotheism
establishes “Call to prayer” 5 x a day
Meccans join umma = Muslim religious community
632: Muhammad dies
Beliefs and Practices:
One god = Allah
Good and evil are knowable:
Manicheanism = black/white morality
c/c with Chinese Yin-Yang
Free will
Heaven, Hell, Judgment Day
Five Pillars of Islam:
Confession of Faith: “I believe there is no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad is
his messenger.”
c/c to Christian creed: “I believe that Jesus died for my sins.”
Prayer 5 x a day
Alms: charity: A religious tax to help the poor, widows, orphans
Fasting: Ramadan: one month, no food from dawn to dusk
Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca once in a life
Mosque: Muslim house of worship
No pork or alcohol
Friday is sabbath
No priests
Ulama = “scholars,” like Christian theologians
Qurʼan: sacred scripture
Arabic: holy language
c/c Latin as unifying force as religion spreads
Sunna: model of ethical goodness based on the life of Muhammad
Shariʼa: Muslim holy law: covers family, business, and community life
Relationship to Judaism and Christianity:
Allah is the same god of Abraham
Jesus is not God, but is a respected prophet
Qurʼan is “divine revelation” like Mosesʼ Torah and Christian Gospels
Qurʼan “perfects” these earlier messages from Allah
Muhammad is the final prophet
Tolerates the “People of the Book”: Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians
Section 2: Islam Expands
Succession Problem
Muhammad named no successor
Bedouin tribal solution is used: elders elect successor
Abu-Bakr
“Caliph” = “successor”
632-61 The Four “Rightly Guided Caliphs”
see map, p. 261
(first 30 years after Muhammad):
Abu-Bakr: unifies Arabia
Umar: conquers Syria and Lower Egypt, some of Persia
Uthman and Ali: more of N. Africa, the rest of Persia
Massive expansion and conquest in a mere 3 decades
by 750, from Spain to Indus River
Why so easy?
Religious faith and zeal: “Weʼre conquering because Allah helps us.”
Weak neighboring empires:
Byzantine and Sassanid (Persian) Empires exhausted by fighting each other for
centuries
Power vacuum
cf. Peloponnesian War and Philip of Macedon
Islam more attractive than Byzantine Christianity and Persian Zoroastrianism
tolerant: no forced conversion
offered hope in this world, not just the next
Shariʼa law offers equality and justice and social welfare in this life, plus
Heaven after death
tax relief if you convert
“People of the Book” -- Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (monotheists) -- could work
government jobs
661: Crisis: Sunni-Shia Split
The third “Rightly-Guided Caliph,” Uthman, is assassinated
Ali becomes forth “Rightly Guided Caliph,” because heʼs Muhammadʼs cousin and
son-in-law (has Muhammadʼs blood)
heʼs assassinated by Ummayad family
Umayyad Caliphate 661-750
move capital from Mecca to Damascus, Syria
become luxurious
spark rebellion
Sunni: one who accepted Umayyad succession
“Sunna” = Caliphs only need to live like Muhammad lived
Shiʼite: one who rejected Umayyad succession
Caliphs should be in Muhammadʼs bloodline
Sunni-Shiʼite split still exists today
US invasion of Iraq caused Sunni-Shiʼite Civil War there
Iran is Shiʼite, most of N. Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East are Sunni
Sufi
minor third group:
reject politics,
embrace poverty
search for mystical union with Allah
Abassids overthrow Umayyads
Abassid Caliphate: 750-1258
Muslim Golden Age
Capital in Baghdad
(one Umayyad prince escapes to Spain to start Spanish Umayyad Caliphate
there)
Achievements:
Government:
Strong bureaucracy
treasury
army
diplomatic
Economics
banks
letters of credit
“sakk” = “check”
Trade Network
Seas:
Mediterranean to Indian Ocean
Land:
from Chinese and Indian Silk Road to Europe and Africa
Muslim Cities at Height of Abbasid Caliphate: 1000 c.e.
Cordoba, Spain: 200,000 population
Paris: 38,000
Cairo, Egypt
Damascus, Syria
Baghdad, Iraq: 900,000 population
Rome: 50,000
Cultural flowering
Section 3: Muslim Culture
Abbasid Baghdad
along with Tang Chinaʼs capital in Changʼan, the most civilized city on earth
Social Classes
Top: native Muslims
2nd: Muslim converts
3rd: “People of the Book”
Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians
Lowest: Slaves
Prisoners of war
servants or forced soldiers
Status of Women:
“Men are the managers of the affairs of women.” -- Qurʼan
BUT
Shariʼa gives women legal rights in marriage, property, family
more rights than women in Christian Europe, Hindu India, or China
BUT
A man can repeat “I divorce thee” three times and itʼs done.
Rights and duties:
All: raise children
Poor: farm with husband
Wealthy:
education
public office
writing and scholarship
Later:
rights will shrink
all women required to wear veils, etc (change over time)
Views on Knowledge and Science
Open:
Practical causes
“How do I navigate this ship to India?”
“Where is Mecca?”
“When is Ramadan?”
“Whatʼs the best cure?”
Religious causes
Muhammad praises study in the Qurʼan
Muslim Scholarship and Culture
House of Wisdom: Baghdad, beginning in 800s
Saved European knowledge from Christian Dark Age
collected books from Greece, India, Persia
translated them into Arabic
Cordoba, Spain also has a House of Wisdom
Jews, Christians, Muslims all scholars working together
tolerant
Literature
1001 Nights (a.k.a. Arabian Nights)
Persian and Indian folk-tales added to by Arabs
Art and Architecture
Calligraphy
Allah bans images of living things (only He can create them)
Artists turn writing and geometry into art
Architecture
Grand Mosque of Damascus
built on top of Byzantine Christian church
Al-Hambra, Spain:
masterpiece of architecture
Medicine
Persian Al-Razi creates
Encyclopedia of Greek, Syrian, Arabic, Indian medicine
Math and Science
Muslims improved Greek science
laboratory experiment, not logic, is proof
seeds of modern scientific method
Greeks didnʼt experiment
“Al-Jabr”
Algebra: from India
Arabs wrote textbook
Optics
led to invention of lenses for telescopes and microscopes