Download Chapter 6 The World of Islam 600-1500

Chapter 6 The World of Islam 600-1500
Section 1
The Arabs
• Most early Arabs were polytheistic, but Allah (Arabic for “God”) was the
supreme God.
• They traced their ancestry to Abraham and his son Ishmael, who were believed to
have built a shrine called the Kaaba at Makkah (Mecca).
• The cornerstone of the Kaaba, the Black Stone, was revered for its association
with Abraham.
• The trade route through Makkah to modern Yemen and across the Indian Ocean
became popular.
• Communities along this route flourished.
• Tensions arose between the wealthy merchant class and the poorer clanspeople
and slaves.
The Life of Muhammad
• Muhammad was born into a merchant family in Makkah.
• He was orphaned early.
• He became a caravan manager and married his employer, a rich widow named
Khadija.
• Muhammad was deeply troubled by the gap in his area between the rich
merchants, who he thought were greedy, and most Makkans, who he thought
were simple and honest.
• He went to the hills to meditate on the matter.
• While meditating, Muslims believe, Muhammad received revelations from God.
• Islam teaches that the messages were given by the angel Gabriel, who told
Muhammad to recite what he heard.
• Muhammad came to believe that Allah had revealed himself partially through
Moses (Judaism) and Jesus (Christianity), and that Allah’s final revelations
were to him.
• The Quran, the holy scriptures of Islam, came out of these revelations. (The
word Islam means “peace through submission to the will of Allah.”)
• The Quran contains the ethical guidelines for Muslims, those who practice Islam.
• Islam has only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is God’s prophet.
• Muhammad set out to convince the people of Makkah that his revelations were
true.
• His wife was his first convert, but after preaching for three years he had only 30
followers. They were persecuted.
• In 622, he and some of his followers moved north to Yathrib, later renamed
Madinah (Medina; “city of the prophet”).
• This journey is known as the Hijrah, and 622 is the first year of the Muslim
calendar.
• Muhammad did not separate political and religious authority.
• Submission to the will of Allah meant submitting to his prophet, and Muhammad
became a religious, political, and military leader.
• He assembled a military force to defend his community.
• His military victories soon attracted many followers.
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In 630, Muhammad returned to Makkah with ten thousand soldiers.
The city surrendered, and many residents converted to Islam.
Muhammad declared the Kaaba a sacred shrine.
Two years later, Muhammad died, as Islam was first spreading throughout the
Arabian Peninsula.
The Teachings of Muhammad
• Islam is monotheistic.
• Allah is the all-powerful Creator of everything.
• Islam offers salvation and the hope of an afterlife for those who subject
themselves to Allah’s will.
• Muhammad is not considered divine, as Jesus is. He is a prophet who conveys
Allah’s final revelation.
• To do Allah’s will, one must follow an ethical code comprised of the Five
Pillars of Islam: believe in Allah and Muhammad as his prophet; pray to Allah
five times a day with public prayer on Fridays; give alms to the poor and
unfortunate; observe the holy month of Ramadan, especially by fasting; and
make a pilgrimage to Makkah once, if possible.
• This pilgrimage is called the hajj.
• Islam is more a way of life than a set of beliefs.
• After the prophet’s death, Muslim scholars drew up a law code called the
shari’ah.
• It provides guidelines for daily living, and much of it comes from the Quran.
• Muslims must follow sound principles, such as honesty and justice.
• Muslims may not gamble, eat pork, drink alcoholic beverages, or be dishonest.
Section 2
Creation of an Arab Empire
• Muhammad’s death left his followers with a problem of succession.
• He had no son, and his daughters could not lead in such a male-dominated
society.
• Some of Muhammad’s closest followers chose Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s fatherin-law.
• He was named caliph, or successor to Muhammad.
• Islam grew under Abu Bakr. Muslims expanded over Arabia and beyond.
• To spread the movement, Abu Bakr took part in the “struggle in the way of
God,” or jihad.
• By 650, Egypt, the Byzantine province of Syria, and the Persian Empire were part
of the Arab Empire.
• The Arabs were fierce fighters led by brilliant generals.
• Military courage was enhanced by the belief that a warrior killed in battle was
assured a place in Paradise.
• The first two caliphs to rule after Abu Bakr’s death were assassinated.
• In 656, Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, became caliph, but he was also
assassinated after ruling for five years.
The Umayyads
• In 661, the general Mu’awiyah became caliph.
•
He was a rival of Ali and was known for one major virtue: He used force only if
necessary.
• He made the office of caliph (caliphate) hereditary and began the Umayyad
dynasty.
• Since he had been governor of Syria, he moved the capital of the Arab Empire
from Madinah to Damascus.
• Internal struggles threatened the Umayyad Empire’s stability.
• Local administrators favored Arabs, and revolts broke out.
• The most important was led by Hussein, second son of Ali.
• In 680, he battled against Umayyad rule.
• Most of his followers defected, however, and he fought 10,000 soldiers with only
72 warriors. All died.
• This struggle caused Islam to split into two groups, the Shiite and the Sunni.
• The former say the descendants of Ali are the rulers of Islam, and the latter
claim that the descendants of the Umayyads are the true caliphs.
• This split continues today.
• Most Muslims are Sunnis, but much of Iraq and Iran consider themselves Shiites.
The Abbasid Dynasty
• Because of both favoritism toward Arabs and Umayyad corruption, resentment
against Umayyad rule grew.
• In 750, Abu al-Abbas overthrew the Umayyad dynasty and founded the Abbasid
dynasty, which lasted until 1258.
• In 762 the Abbasids built a new capital at Baghdad, on the Tigris River.
• This location took advantage of river and caravan traffic.
• This move eastward increased Persian influence and created a new outlook.
• Not warriors, but judges, merchants, and government officials were the heroes.
• Also, all Muslims, Arab or not, could now hold both civil and military offices.
• This time also saw economic prosperity.
• Baghdad became the center of a huge trade empire extending into Asia, Africa,
and Europe.
• Under the Abbasids, the caliph became more regal and the bureaucracy more
complex.
• A council headed by a prime minister, or vizier, advised the caliph.
• During council meetings, the caliph sat behind a screen and whispered his
orders to the vizier.
The Seljuk Turks and The Crusades
• The Seljuk Turks were a nomadic people from central Asia.
• They had converted to Islam and prospered as soldiers for the Abbasid
caliphate.
• By the eleventh century they had taken over the eastern part of the Abbasid
Empire.
• In 1055 a Turkish leader captured Baghdad and took over the empire.
• His title was sultan, “holder of power.”
• The Seljuk Turks held the political and military power in the Abbasid Empire.
• In 1071 the Byzantines challenged the Turks, who defeated them.
• The Turks took over the Anatolian Peninsula.
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The Byzantine Empire turned to the West for help.
The Byzantine emperor Alexius I asked the Christian states of Europe for help
against the Turks.
• Many Europeans agreed, and a series of crusades began in 1096.
• At first the crusaders put the Muslims on the defensive.
• In 1169, however, Saladin took control of Egypt, ending the Fatimid dynasty.
• He also took the offensive, and in 1187 Saladin’s army destroyed the
Christian forces in the kingdom of Jerusalem.
• The chief effect of the Crusades was to breed centuries of mistrust between
Muslims and Christians.
Section 3
Prosperity in the Islamic World
• The period of the Arab Empire generally was prosperous.
• Much of it was based on the extensive trade by ship and camel.
• Camel caravans went from Morocco in the far west to countries beyond the
Caspian Sea.
• Large, magnificent cities came to prominence, Baghdad under the Abbasids
and Cairo under the Fatimids.
• These and Damascus were the administrative, cultural, and economic centers of
their regions.
• Islamic cities generally surpassed the cities of the largely rural Europe of the time.
• The Islamic city of Córdoba in Spain was Europe’s greatest city after
Constantinople.
• Islamic cities had their own physical appearance.
• The palaces and mosques were the most impressive buildings.
• They also had public buildings with fountains, public baths, and marketplaces
(bazaars).
• The bazaar (covered market) was a vital part of every Muslim city or town.
• Inspectors guaranteed the quality of goods.
• Bazaars also had craftspeople and offered services such as laundries.
Islamic Society
• Muslims live their lives in accordance with Allah’s teachings as revealed in the
Quran, which was compiled in 635.
• Islam claims that all people are equal in the eyes of Allah.
• Such was not always the case in the Arab Empire, however.
• For example, it had a well defined upper class of ruling families, wealthy
merchants, and other elites.
• One group clearly not considered equal was slaves.
• Slavery was widespread in the Arab Empire.
• Because Muslims could not be slaves, most of the slaves came from Africa or
Asia.
• Many were captives of war. Slaves often served as soldiers.
• Many of these were eventually freed, and some exercised considerable power.
• The Quran granted women spiritual and social equality with men, and women
could own and inherit property.
• Nevertheless, men dominated in the Arab Empire.
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Every woman had a male guardian.
Women were secluded at home and kept from social contacts with men outside
their families.
• Parents or guardians arranged marriages for their children.
• Muslim men could have up to four wives, but most had fewer because of having
to pay a dowry to the bride.
• Only the wealthy could afford multiple dowries.
• Although women had a right to divorce, in practice the right was extended only to
men.
• Women covered much of their bodies when appearing in public, a custom that
continues in many Islamic societies today.
• This custom, however, owes more to traditional Arab practice than to the
Quran.
• Despite these restrictions, the position of women in Islamic society was an
improvement over earlier times when women had often been treated like slaves.
Section 4
Preservation of Knowledge and Philosophy, Science, and History
• During the first few centuries of the Arab Empire, Arab scholars read and
translated into Arabic works by Plato and Aristotle.
• The translations were put into a library in Baghdad called the House of Wisdom.
• Mathematics texts were brought from India.
• Papermaking was introduced from China, which aided this scholarly work.
• By the end of the eighth century, paper factories had been established in Baghdad.
• Booksellers and libraries followed.
• Europeans recovered the works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers
through the Muslim world.
• When Aristotle’s works made it to Europe, they were accompanied by brilliant
commentaries by Arab scholars.
• One of the most important scholars was Ibn-Rushd, who wrote commentaries on
almost all of Aristotle’s works.
Literature
• Muslims believed the Quran was their greatest work of literature, but pre-Islamic
forms continued to be used.
• One of the most familiar works of Middle Eastern literature is the Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyám, who was a poet, astronomer and mathematician.
• He composed his poems orally.
• In his work he wondered about the meaning of life when life was so transitory.
Art and Architecture
• Islamic art blends the Arabic, Turkish, and Persian traditions.
• Its highest expression is found in the mosques, which represent Islam’s spirit.
• No representation of Muhammad is in any Islamic art.
• The Hadith, an early collection of the prophet’s sayings, warns against
imitating God by creating pictures of living things.
• From early on, therefore, no representation of a living thing appears in Islamic
religious art.
Chapter 15 The Muslim Empires 1450-1800
Section 1
Rise of the Ottoman Turks
• The Ottoman dynasty began in the late thirteenth century when Turks under
their leader Osman were given land in the northwest corner of the Anatolian
Peninsula by the Seljuk Turks in return for helping fight against the Mongols.
• The Ottomans expanded into the Balkans in the fourteenth century.
• Ottoman rulers claimed the name of sultan and built a strong military, first by
developing an elite guard called janissaries, local Christians who converted to
Islam and served as foot soldiers or administrators to the sultan.
• With the use of the new technology of firearms, the janissaries began to spread
Ottoman control in the Balkans.
• During the 1390s, they had advanced northward, defeated the Serbs (Battle of
Kosovo, 1389), and annexed Bulgaria.
Expansion of the Empire
• For the next three hundred years, Ottoman rule expanded into areas of Western
Asia, North Africa, and Europe.
• Under Mehmet II, the Ottomans began to end the Byzantine Empire. ⇓
• Mehmet laid siege to Constantinople in 1453, using massive cannons and
forces that vastly outnumbered the Byzantines. ⇓
• The Byzantines fought desperately for two months, but finally Ottoman soldiers
breached the walls and sacked the city for three days.
• With Constantinople (later renamed Istanbul) under their control, the
Ottomans dominated the Balkans and the Anatolian Peninsula, together with
the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the sea routes to the Black Sea.
• From 1514 to 1517, Sultan Selim I took control of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and
Arabia, including the Muslim holy cities of Jerusalem, Makkah, and Madinah.
⇓
• Selim declared himself the new caliph and Muhammad’s successor.
• In keeping with Muslim practice, the Ottomans administered conquered regions
through local rulers.
• The central government appointed officials, called pashas, who collected taxes,
kept law and order, and were responsible to the sultan’s court.
The Nature of Ottoman Rule
• The Ottoman Empire is often called a “gunpowder empire.”
• These empires were formed by conquerors principally based on their mastering
the technology of firearms.
• The sultan was the head of the Ottoman system.
• The hereditary position passed on to a son. ⇓
• The sultan was the state’s political and military leader. ⇓
• Sons often battled for succession, causing conflict throughout the Ottoman
Empire’s history.
• The sultan’s position took on the trappings of imperial rule.
• The empire adopted a centralized administrative system, and the sultan
increasingly became isolated in his palace.
• The Topkapi (“iron gate”) Palace was the center of the sultan’s power.
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Built by Mehmet II, it had an administrative function and was the residence of the
ruler and his family. ⇓
• The sultan’s private domain was called the harem (“sacred place”). ⇓
• A sultan often had several favorite wives.
• When a son became a sultan, his mother became known as the queen mother.
• Often she had great power. ⇓
• The sultan controlled his bureaucracy through a council that met four days a
week. ⇓
• A chief minister–grand vizier–led the meeting. ⇓
• The sultan sat behind a screen and indicated his desires to the grand vizier.
Religion in the Ottoman World
• Ottomans were Sunni Muslims.
• Since Ottoman rulers claimed to be caliphs, they were responsible for guiding the
flock and maintaining Islamic law. ⇓
• The sultans gave their religious duties to
a group of religious advisers called the ulema. ⇓
• The ulema administered the legal system and Muslim schools.
• Islamic law and customs were applied to all Muslims in the empire.
• Ottoman rulers generally were tolerant of non-Muslims. ⇓
• Non-Muslims paid a special tax but were free to practice their religion. ⇓
• Most Europeans remained Christian. ⇓
• Large numbers in present-day Bosnia converted to Islam, however.
Problems in the Ottoman Empire
• The Ottoman Empire reached its high point under Süleyman the Magnificent, who
ruled from 1520 to 1566.
• Problems also began during this time but did not become visible until 1699, when
the empire began to lose territory.
Section 2
Rise of the Safavid Dynasty
• In the sixteenth century a new dynasty know as the Safavids took control of the
area extending from Persia into central Asia.
• The Safavids were Shiite Muslims. ⇓
• Shah Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty. ⇓
• He was a descendant of Safi al-Din, who had been the leader of Turkish ethnic
groups in Azerbaijan, near the Caspian Sea, in the early fourteenth century.
• In 1501, Ismail seized much of Iran and Iraq.
• He called himself the shah (king) of a new Persian state. ⇓
• He sent Shiite preachers into Anatolia to convert Turks in the Ottoman Empire. ⇓
• Ismail also massacred Sunni Muslims when he conquered Baghdad in 1508.
Glory and Decline
• The Safavids reached their high point under Shah Abbas, who ruled from 1588 to
1629.
• He created a system similar to the Ottoman janissaries and strengthened
his army with the latest weapons.
• The Safavid dynasty lost its vigor after Abbas’s death (1629).
His successors lacked his talent and political skills. ⇓
Shiite religious power increased at court and in society.
The pressure to conform to traditional religious beliefs, or religious orthodoxy,
increased and curbed the empire’s earlier intellectual freedom.
• Persian women were now forced into seclusion and forced to adopt the veil.
Political and Social Structures
• Persia under the Safavids was a mixed society of Turks and Persians.
• The former were nomadic peoples; the latter, farmers and townspeople. ⇓
• The pyramid-shaped Safavid political system had the shah at the top, the
bureaucracy and landed classes in the middle, and common people below.
• Shiites eagerly supported the Safavid rulers because they believed the founder
of the empire was a direct successor of Muhammad.
• Shia Islam was the state religion.
Section 3
The Mogul Dynasty
• Babur founded the Mogul Empire.
• He inherited some of Timur Lenk’s empire. ⇓
• As a youth, he seized Kabul in 1504. ⇓
• Thirteen years later, his troops crossed the Khyber Pass to India. ⇓
• His forces usually were outnumbered, but they had advanced weapons, including
artillery.
• Babur captured Delhi against an army ten times the size of his and established his
power in North India.
• Babur died in 1530 at the age of 47 while continuing conquests in North India.
The Reign of Akbar
• Babur’s grandson Akbar came to the throne at 14 years of age.
• By 1605, he had brought Mogul rule to most of India. ⇓
• Akbar’s military success was due to a large extent from using heavy artillery to
overpower his foes’ stone fortresses. ⇓
• The Moguls were good negotiators as well.
Decline of the Moguls
• Shah Jahan ruled from 1628 to 1658.
• He expanded the empire through successful campaigns in the Deccan Plateau
and against the city of Samarkand. ⇓
• Shah Jahan failed to deal with growing domestic problems. ⇓
• His wars and building projects strained the imperial treasury, and he raised
taxes. ⇓
• The majority of his subjects lived in poverty.
The British in India
• British trading posts were established at Surat, Fort William (now the city of
Calcutta), and Chennai (Madras) by 1650.
• From Chennai, British shipped cotton goods to the East Indies, trading them
for spices.
• The French tried to suppress British trade in India, but the British were saved
by the military genius of Sir Robert Clive, who eventually became the chief
representative of the East India Company.
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The East India Company was private but empowered by the British Crown to
act on its behalf. ⇓
• The French were beaten and restricted to holding one fort and a handful of small
territories.
• Clive consolidated British control in Bengal, where Fort William was located.
• In 1757, the British under Clive’s leadership defeated a Mogul army in the
Battle of Plassey in Bengal. ⇓
• As part of the spoils of victory, the East India Company received the right to
collect taxes from lands surrounding Calcutta.
• In the late eighteenth century, the East India Company moved inland from its
coastal strongholds.
• This expansion made British merchants and officials very rich, and Britain was
in India to stay.
Mogul Culture
• The Moguls blended Persian and Indian styles in a beautiful, new architecture.
• The famous Taj Mahal in Agra, built by Shah Jahan in the mid-seventeenth
century, best exemplifies this style. ⇓
• The outside surfaces of the Taj Mahal are decorated with cut-stone geometric
patterns, delicate black tracery, or inlays of colored precious stones in floral
mosaics. ⇓
• It combines monumental size, blinding brilliance, and delicate lightness, all at
once.