Download Packet #12 Post Classical Era: Islam 600

Packet #12
Post Classical Era:
Islam 600-1450
Packet #12
In this Packet you will learn about:
 The Birth of Islam
 This does NOT include the second flowering of Islam
 Resource: Traditions and Encounters
 Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula, and the new religion faithfully
reflected the social and cultural conditions of its homeland.
 Desert covers most of the peninsula, and agriculture is possible only
in the well-watered area of Yemen in the south and in a few other
places, such as the city of Medina, where oases provide water.
 Nomadic peoples known as Bedouin kept herds of sheep, goats, and
camels, migrating through the deserts to find grass and water for
their animals.
 They were organized in family and clan groups.
 Clan identities survived for centuries after the appearance of Islam
 Arabia figured prominently in the long-distance trade networks of
the postclassical era.
 Commodities arrived at ports on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
 After the third century Arabia became an increasingly important link
in trade between China and India and Persia and Byzantium.
 With the weakening of classical empires, trade routes across central
Asia had become insecure.
 Merchants abandoned the overland routes in favor of sea-lanes
connecting with land routes in the Arabian Peninsula.
 Trade passing across the peninsula was especially important for the
city of Mecca which became an important site of fairs and a stopping
point for caravan traffic.
 Islam arose in the Arabian peninsula
 Extremely tribal—religious melting pot
 Reflected the social and cultural conditions of its homeland
 The epicenter of post classical long distance trade.
 Arabia—important link in trade between China and India in the east
and Persia nad Byzantium in the west
Muhammad
 The prophet Muhammad was born into the family of Bedouins and
merchants.
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 Born in 570 c.e. his family was prominent in the merchant class in
Mecca
 By age thirty Muhammad had established himself as a merchant.
 He lived comfortably.
 He was influenced by Christianity and Judaism
 Spiritual Transformation: about 610 c.e. he approached the age of
frty. Muhammad underwent a profound spiritual experience that
transformed his life and left a deep mark on world history.
 Experience made him believe that there was only one true god, Allah.
He experienced visions
 Believed the archangel Gabriel (messenger angel) instructed him to
explain his views to others about Allah.
 The written versions of Muhammad’s revelations is written in the
Quran (recitation), the holy book of Islam.
 His growing popularity in Mecca brought him into conflict with the
ruling elites at Mecca.
 Muhammad’s insistence that Allah was the only divine power in the
universe struck many polytheistic Arabs as offensive.
 Muhammad also attacked idolatry (he was against the purchase of
shrines for profit)
 Hijra: Muhammad fled to their new home (Medina-city of the
prophet). This is the hijra or migration. This begins the starting point
of the Islamic calendar.
 Umma: community of the faithful. Muhammad lived in the
community. He provided the legal and social code.
 He held Hebrew and Christian scriptures in high esteem and
accepted the notion of monotheism
 Muhammad’s return to Mecca: Muhammad always wanted to return
to Mecca
 In 630 they attacked Mecca and conquered the city. The forced the
elites to adopt Muhammad’s faith, and they imposed a government
dedicated to Allah. They also destroyed the pagan shrines and
replaced them with mosques, buildings that sought to instill a sense
of sacredness and community where Muslims gathered for prayers.
 Muhammad and his followers launched campaigns against other
towns and Bedouin clans, and by the time of the prophet’s death in
632, they had brought most of Arabia under their control
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 Five Pillars: 1. Muslims bust acknowledge Allah as the only god and
Muhammad as the prophet. 2. They must pray to Allah five times a
day facing Mecca. 3. They must observe fast during the daylight
hours of the month of Ramadan. 4. They must contribute to alms for
the poor. 5. The must undertake the hajj- the pilgrimage to Mecca.
 Sharia: Islamic holy law
o Emerged during the centuries after Muhammad and offered
detailed guidance on proper behavior
o It offered guidance on marriage and family life, inheritance,
slavery, business etc. it became the political authority of the of
Islam.
o Islam was a way of life
 Dar al Islam: the community of Muslim people.
Political:
 After Muhammad’s death the Islamic community might well have
unraveled and disappeared.
 He made no provision for a successor
 Disagreements in the community on the next leader.
 The Caliph: inconceivable that another prophet could succeed
Muhammad.
o Abu Bakr—close friend of the prophet and most devoted disciple.
He became the head of the state for the Islamic community
o Many people wanted Ali—Muhammad’s son in law to be leader.
o Abu Bakr became head of state for the Islamic
community and umma (community of the faithful)
o Struggle to name successors intensified
o Sunni and Shia Sects emerged
o Sunni Muslims: caliphs were rightful political and
military leaders, chosen by the Islamic community
(Abu Bakr a rightly guided Caliph)
o Shia Muslims: leaders should be blood relatives of
Muhammad, descended from Ali and his son
Husayn (cousin and son in law of Muhammad)
 Ali served as Caliph from 656-661;
assassinated along with much of his family line
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 Umayyads:
o After the assassination of
Ali, the Umayyad
Dynasty was established.
o Part of the merchant clans
of Mecca
o Sunni sect
o Temporarily solved
problem of succession
o Umayyads ranked among
most prominent of the Meccan merchant clans
o Moved capital to Damascus
in Syria—central location
o Believed in Arab military
aristocracy
o Conquered Jews,
Christians, Persians,
Indians, Greeks,
Mesopotamians etc.
o Allowed them to view own
religious practices
o Imposed a jizya—tax on
non Muslims
o Umayyads favored the Arab elites—caused resentment
o Caliphs became alienated form other Arabs
 Too devoted to luxurious living than leadership of the
umma
 Fierce resistance of Shia and conquered peoples
Abbasids
 Founder: Abu al-Abbas
 Leader of Persian rebellion vs. Umayyyad Dynasty
 Descendent of Muhammad’s uncle
 He was Sunni he allied with Shias and with non Arab Muslims
 Seized control of Persia and Mesopotamia –shattered Umayyad
forces in huge battle
 Founded Abbasid Dynasty
 No special favor to Arabs
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 Persians, Egyptians, Mesopotamians and others rose in wealth
and power
 Adopted Persian governmental practices—introduced governors
to rule
 Not a conquering dynasty
 Did not expand through conquest
 Dar al Islam (the community of Islam) expanded but not by the
Abbasid dynasty
 Traders/Merchants, others expanded it
 Central authority (capital Iraq)
 Became center of banking, commerce, crafts, industry, population
 Civil War damaged Abbasid authority
 Disputes over succession became problem
 Provincial governors took advantage of disorder
 Abbasids became figureheads
 The dynasty would be extinguished at the hands of the Mongols in
1258
Jihad
 Spiritual and moral obligation on Muslims-to conquer vice and
evil
 Muslims to struggle against ignorance and unbelief by spreading
the word of Islam and seeking conversions
 The obligation to take the sword and wage war against
unbelievers who threaten Islam
Economy
 Peasant tilled the land and merchants supported a thriving urban
economy
 Traded staple crops along trade routes.
 Cotton had industrial use: it became the basis of a thriving textile
industry
 Travel and communication in the Dar al-Islam encouraged
experimentation with agricultural methods.
 Cultivators paid close attention to methods of irrigation, fertilization,
crop rotation. Information dispersed throughout Arabia.
 Urbanization: rapid growth of cities: Delhi, Merv, Basra, Baghdad,
Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo. Bustling cities
 New Industry: Paper manufacturing from China.
 Overland trade: Much of Islam’s prosperity due to commerce
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 Elaborate trade networks linked all the region of the Islamic world
and joined it into a larger economy.
 Maritime Trade: innovations in nautical technology contributed to a
steadily increasing volume of the Indian Ocean.
 Gold coins standardly used in Islamic trade
Social:
 The Qur’an and women: the Quran and sharia law recognized
descent through the male line permit men to take four wives
whereas women could only take up one husband.
o The Quran and the sharia law provided a religious and legal
foundation for a decisively patriarchal society
o Veiling: Islam encountered strong patriarchal traditions and
Muslims readily adopted long-standing customs like veiling
women. Sign of modesty, upper class urban women covered
their faces and ventured outside their homes only in the
company of servants or chaperones so as to discourage the
attention of men.
 Madrasas: institutions of higher education
o By the twelfth century they were in major cities in the Islamic
world.
 Sufis: mystics – many sought a mystical, ecstatic union with Allah
relying on sermons.
In contrast with Christianity:
 Christianity: Giving to Caesar with is Caesar’s and to God what is
God’s”
 Early Christians found themselves periodically persecuted by Roman
authorities for more than three centuries, requiring them to work
out some means of dealing with an often hostile state.
 The answer lay in the development of a separate church hierarchy
and the concept of two coexisting authorities, one religious and one
political, an arrangement that persisted even after the state became
Christian
 Muhammad was not only a religious figure but also, unlike Jesus or
the Buddha, a political and military leader able to implement his
vision of an ideal Islamic society.
 No professional clergy mediating between God and humankind
emerged within Islam,
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 Teachers, religious scholars, prayer leaders, and judges within an
Islamic legal system did not have the religious role that priests held
within Christianity.
 No distinction between religious law and civil law, so important in
the Christian world, existed within the realm of Islam.
 One law, the sharia, regulated every aspect of life. The sharia
(literally, a path to water, which is the source of life) evolved over the
several centuries following the birth of this new religion and found
expression in a number of separate schools of Islamic legal practice.
 Brought PEACE to the WARRING tribes of Arab
CHRISTIANITY
ISLAM
Compare the Spread of Islam to the Following Places:
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India
West Africa
Anatolia
Please fill out chart based on Textbook reading Chapter 11
Spain
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SOCIAL
ECONOMIC
POLITICAL
Islam
ENVIRONMENTAL
Vocabulary
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Medina
Mecca
Bedouin
Muhammad
Quran
Hijra
Umma
Five Pillars
Hajj
Sharia
Sunni
Shia
Dar al Islam
Definition
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Caliph
Abu Bakr
Umayyad
Abbasids
Jizya
Jihad
Madrasas
Sufi Islam