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Chapter 7 Reading Guide
Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia
1. What were the symptoms of their decline?
-Rebellious governors and new dynasties arose to challenge the Abbasid caliph’s claims to be
the rightful rulers of all Islamic peoples. (political power declines) (political fragmentation)
-Islamic civilization reached new heights of creativity and expansion. Remarkable achievements
in architecture, fine arts, literature, philosophy, mathematics and sciences
-Islamic world still growing and peaceful conversion still alive
2. Who spread Islam to South and Southeast Asia?
-Muslim warriors, traders and wandering mystics
THE ISLAMIC HEARTLANDS IN THE MIDDLE AND LATE ABBASID ERA
3. What was the most important problem they faced?
-Succession- waver between which of his older sons would succeed him (Mahdi). Also allowed
wives and concubines to become involved (became standard feature of transfer of power from
one Caliph to the next)
IMPERIAL EXTRAVAGANCE AND SUCCESSION DISPUTES
4. What piece of literature immortalized Harun al-Rachid’s court?
The Thousand and One Nights (set it Baghdad) relates plots and maneuvers of courtesans, the
luxury and intrigue of, eunuchs, and royal ministers, shows another source of weakness
5. Who wielded power at the caliph’s expense?
-Harun became heavily dependent on a family of Persian advisors.
-Haruns death-1st full scale civil war convinced sons of Al-Maimun to build personal armies in
anticipation for fight for throne-lead to succession struggle after death of each caliph
6. What group caused a lot of unrest?
-Mercenaries, their army was used to gain control of throne-slave mercenary armies often the
real power behind Abbasid throne (assassinated and poisoned Caliphs to place own son on
throne).
-Catalysts for food riots that broke out in capital and other urban centers
IMPERIAL BREAKDOWN AND AGRARIAN DISORDER
7. Who did the burden of luxury and unrest fall? How?
Peasants by taxation and pillaging- destruction abandonment of villages
-irrigation works of Tigris-Euphrates fell into disrepair and collapsed
-some peasants die through flood, famine, violent assault, others flee to un-taxable wilderness
and to neighboring kingdoms
DECLINING POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE FAMILY AND SOCIETY
8. What became symbols of women’s subjugation during the Abbasid Caliphate?
-the Harem, forbidden quarters of imperial palace for wives and concubines, and the veil
9. What jobs did slaves hold in the Abbasid Caliphate?
-slaves were concubines-could win freedom by bearing healthy sons
-Abassid elite create large demand for male and female slaves-found in cities-used for domestic
services in homes of wealthy
10. What were some of the positive aspects of being a slave?
-Prized for beauty and intelligence- some of the best educated were slaves
-slave concubines and servants had more personal freedom than free born wives- slave
women could go to the market and didn’t have to wear veils and robes in public places
11. How did women try to gain power and control?
-at highest levels of society, wives persuaded husbands and plotted with royal advisors to
advance their sons to the thrown (struggle over succession) (power politics)
NOMADIC INCURSIONS AND THE ECLIPSE OF CALIPHAL POWER
12. What groups began to break away from the Abbasid Caliphate?
-Groups along outer reaches of Empire as well as Egypt and Syria
-Some provinces also form into independent Kingdoms
13. What group of leaders took the title of sultan? How long did that last?
-“victorious” Caliphs became puppets controlled by Sultan
-Buyid leaders (Builds of Persia)
-Just over a century
14. Name and describe the group that took power in 1055.
-Seljuk Turks-nomadic invaders from central Asia-invaded through Persia
-Turkic military leaders ruled Abbasid Empire in name of Caliphs
-Seljuks were Sunnis who purged Shia officials who had risen to power under Buyids
-Seljuks-restored political initiative to Caliphate, suppress/end threat of conquest by rival Shia
dynasty, defeat Byzantine opening way to settlement of Asia Minor (Anatolia)- lead to
foundations of Ottoman Empire and Crusades
THE IMPACT OF THE CHRISTIAN CRUSADES
15. What is the desired piece of real estate by both Christians and Muslims?
-The Holy land of biblical times, including Jerusalem
16. To what extent was the Christian challenge successful?
-The first of 8 rusades (1096-1099) was most successful because of Muslim political division
and element of surprise
-much of land captured and divided into Christian kingdoms (Jerusalem taken-Muslim and
Jewish inhabitants were massacred)
-Maintained precarious hold on E Mediterranean region but posed little threat to powerful
Muslim princes
17. Who united the Muslims to re-conquer land lost to the Christians?
-Salah-ud-ohin- late 12th century (Saladin in English)
18. Who was impacted the most from the Crusades? How?
-Christians more than Muslims
-Muslim weapons damascene swords
-Rugs and textiles, Persian and Arabic words, games-chess (orig from India), chivalric ideas,
food-dates, yogurt, coffee, songs of troubadors
-techniques of building fortifications-castles in Normandy
-Europeans recovered much of Greek learning lost after Fall of Rome through nomadic
invasions
-Arabic numerals and decimal system (properly the Indians)
-Arabs imported some manufactures and raw materials but Muslim people show little interest
in West
AN AGE OF LEARNING AND ARTISTIC REFINEMENT
19. Describe some of the artistic advancements Islam is famous for.
-Mosques and palaces grew larger and more ornate (even in outlying areas such as Cordoban
Spain)
-tapestries and rugs of Muslim people (such as Persians)-exquisite designs, vivid colors
-produce fine bronzes and superb ceramics
THE FULL FLOWERING OF PERSIAN LITERATURE
20. How did Persian culture find its way into the Islamic Caliphate?
-As Persian wives, concubines, advisors, bureaucrats and Caliphs rose in imperial politics
Persian replaced Arabic as primary write language of Abbasid court
-Arabic remained language of religion, law, and natural sciences but Persian favored by Arabs,
Turks and Muslims of Persian descent as language of literary expression, administration and
scholarship
-Persian was language of polite exchanges of history, poetry and mystical relevations
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE SCIENCES
21. What did the Muslims preserve?
-Learning of the ancient civilizations, they conquered in early centuries of expansion
22. Identify areas the Muslims added to the sciences.
-Major corrections to algebraic and geometric theories of ancient Greeks and great advances in
basic trig (sin, cos, tan)
-Discoveries in chemistry, creation of objective experiment, Al-Razi’s scheme of classifying all
material substances into 3 categories-animal, vegetable and minerals
-Astronomical instruments, maps of stars
-Best hospitals, doctors had to follow a regular course of study and pass formal exam, optics
and bladder ailments
-Muslim scholars made some of world’s best maps
23. What innovations did Muslim traders introduce to Europe from China?
-Basic machines and techniques-papermaking, silk-weaving, ceramic firing
RELIGIOUS TRENDS AND THE NEW PUSH OF EXPANSION
24. What was the conflict that orthodox Muslims had with Greek teachings?
-Orthodox Muslim scholars suspected that the questioning that characterized Greek tradition
would undermine the absolute authority of the Quran
25. What was the purpose and teachings of the Sufis?
-Wandering mystics- sought a personal union with Allah
-Sufism was a reaction against impersonal and abstract divinity that Ullma scholars argued
was the true god of the Quran
-Sufis insist on clear distinction between Allah humans
-In teachings, Allah spread through universe in ways that compromised his transcendent
(going for beyond ordinary limits) status
-Some Sufis became great weavers and workers of miracles. Others became militant bands
trying to spread Islam
-Used asceticism (bodily denial) to find Allah; others used meditation, drugs or ecstatic dancing
NEW WAVES OF NOMADIC INVASIONS AND THE END OF THE CALIPHATE
26. What new nomadic band challenged the caliphate?
-Mongols-central Asian nomadic people
-1st raided in 1220s and crushed Turko-Persian kingdoms East of Baghdad
-united by great war commander-Chinggis Khan, died but grandson (Hulegu) renewed Mongol
assault in 1250s
27. When did they conquer Baghdad?
-1258-conquered and sacked
-killed 37th and last Caliph of Abbasid Empire
-Never recovered from Mongol attack, 1401-2nd capture by Tamerlane. Baghdad became
provincial backwater overshadowed by Cairo to West and Istanbul to N
28. Who stopped them and where?
-Defeated by Mamlucks (Turkic slaves) in Egypt
THE COMING OF ISLAM TO SOUTH ASIA
29. What was a strength and flexibility of India?
-capacity to absorb people moving into area
-foreigners assimilate into civilization, they encounter-convert to Hindu or Buddhist religion,
found place in castle and adopt lifestyle
-India’s people usually enjoy higher level of material culture than migrant groups coming in
-result was fundamental challenges to existing order despite failure of rules to unite…but
changed with arrival of Muslims in end of 7th century CE
30. How are the new Muslim invaders different than previous invaders?
-Muslims are sophisticated as their own civilization
-Muslim religious system very different and opposite of Hinduism
-Hinduism-open, tolerant, inclusive of wide variety of forms of religious devotion (from idol
worship to meditation)
-Islam-doctrine, proselytizing (persuading others to join), and committed to worship of single
god with no idols
31. How are Islam and Hinduism different (religiously and socially)?
-Socially, Islam-proclaims all believers equal in sight of god. Emphasized mobility and
community of believers. Hindu-validate caste hierarchy-absorb and adaptive acceptance of
inborn differences between groups and wide varying levels of wealth, status, and religious
purity. More compartmentalized and closed society.
NORTH INDIA ON THE EVE OF THE MUSLIM INVASION
32. What did Harsha do that is typical of a rise of a new empire?
Not in your edition do not worry about it
POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND THE FIRST MUSLIM INVASIONS
33. What initially brought Muslims in contact with Indian?
-Peaceful trading contacts
-Arab seafarers and traders convert to Islam and continue to visit parts of India
-Attack by pirates on Arab ships lead to attack on Sind. After victories, Muhammed ibn Qasim
declared Sing and Indus valley provinces of Umayyad Empire
34. What caused parts of India to welcome Muslim conquerors?
-Muslim conquerers promised lighter tax and greater religious tolerance
-Arabs treated Hindus and Buddhists as “people of the book”- obliged to pay taxes but enjoyed
freedom to worship as they pleased.
-Most local officials retained position. Brahman castle status respected. Little effort expanded
in conversion so areas remained Hindu or Buddhist
INDIAN INFLUENCES ON ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
35. What purpose did the Muslims serve in transmitting Indian sciences?
-Islamic civilization was enriched by skills and discoveries of Indians
-Spread of Islam- linkage between civilized centers (India-mid East and Europe)
-Example: Indian number system-Arabs-Europeans
36. What was the staging area for Islam to spread to SE Asia?
-Trading enclaves- Arab colonies along coastal areas such as Malabar and Bengal-link Ward E.
FROM BOOTY TO EMPIRE: THE SECOND WAVE OF MUSLIM INVASIONS
37. What were Mahmud’s motivations to conquer into India from Afghanistan?
-Mahmud-3rd ruler of Turkish dynasty that seized power in Afghanistan
-Mahmud wanted wealth of subcontinent and he wanted to spread Muslim faith
38. Where was the new capital?
-At Delhi along Jumma River on Gangetic plain- very center of N. India
39. Who did the Muslims depend on to help rule their new empire?
-Persians, Afghans Turkic and mixed descent-rulers of imperial houses proclaimed themselves
sultans of Delhi (princes of the heartland)
-Fought each other, Mongol and Turkic invaders and Hindu princes for power
PATTERNS OF CONVERSION
40. How did the Sufis connect with the Indians?
-Sufis were often merchants who played growing role in coastal and inland trade
-Shared much with Indian wandering mystics
-People believed in their magical and healing powers
-Set up mosques and schools-became sources of regional political power.
-Organized followers into militias, oversaw clearing of forests for farming it welcomed low castle
and outcaste Hindus
41. From what class and religion did most converts come from? Why?
-Some conversions were to escape Muslim head tax on non believers, some was prompted by
intermarriage
-Buddhist of low castle groups
-Buddhism was declining ( rituals and corrupt practices), Muslim raids on Buddhist
temples/monastaries, Buddhism was disorganized and misdirected
-Untouchable and low caste Hindus and animistic tribal people-attracted by Egalitarian social
arrangement promoted by Islam
PATTERNS OF ACCOMODATION
42. What did Indian assume about their Muslim invaders?
-Saw invaders as bearers of an upstart religion and as polluting outcastes
-Hindus convinced that like the many other people who entered the subcontinent, the Muslims
would soon be absorbed by the superior religions and more sophisticated cultures of India
43. What negative rituals regarding women did the Muslims adopt from the Hindus?
-Muslim communities became socially divided along eastern lines
-Muslims adopted Indian food and styles of dress and started chewing pan (limestone wrapped
with batal leaves)
-Marry women at earlier ages
-prohibitions against remarriage f widows- (especially in upper castle levels)
-Sati-burning of widows on same funeral pyres as their dead husbands
ISLAMIC CHALLENGE AND HINDU REVIVAL
44. What was the Hindu reaction to the Muslim religious force?
-Hindus found Islam impossible to absorb and realized they were against a religion with great
appeal to large parts of Indian population
-In response, Hindus placed greater emphasis on devotional cults of gods and goddesses (also
effective in neutralizing challenge of Buddhism)
-Bhaktic cults-membership open to all (including women and untouchables)
-Mira Bai and Kabir-wrote song sand poem sin common languages (Beng Ali, Marathi and
Tamil)- more accessible to common people
-stressed importance of strong emotional bond between devotee and god/goddesses (Shiva,
Vishnu, and Krishna)- chants, dances, drugs
-increased population involvement and enrich modes of prayer and ritual-stems flow of
converts to Islam (decreases) especially from low caste groups
STAND-OFF: THE MUSLIM PRESENCE IN INDIA AT THE END OF THE SULTANATE
PERIOD
45. Why could the Muslims not play down the differences between them and the Hindus?
-So worked to promote unity within Indian Muslim community and to strengthen its contacts
with neighboring Muslims
-Muslim Ulama (religious experts) grew increasingly aware of dangers Hinduism posed for
Islam
-Hindus argue that specific ritual and beliefs not essential but they were fundamental for Islam
(could not play down the teachings of Qur’an, prayer, and pilgrimage- essential to Islam)
-Large Muslim community established in India. However non-Muslims (esp. Hindus) remained
the majority. Indians showed little inclination to convert to Islam unlike Zoroastrians in Persia
and animistic people of Maghrib and Sudan.
-S. Asia remained of least converted and integrated of all areas Islam’s message had reached
THE SPREAD OF ISLAM TO SOUTHEAST ASIA
46. What two great trading complexes came together here?
-Chinese segment of great Euro-Asian trading complex met Indian Ocean trading zone to west
-Goods from China from E Asian vessels to Arab or Indian ships/ products from Rome loaded
into Chinese ships to be traded East
47. What was the power vacuum that allowed the Muslims an open door?
-After collapse of trading empire of Shrivijaya in 13th century
-(rulers and officials of Shrivijaya were devout Buddhists-little incentive for traders and sailors
of SE Asian ports to convert)
TRADING CONTACTS AND CONVERSION
48. What paved the way for peaceful conversion?
-Trading contracts throughout the islands of the region. Muslim merchants and sailors
introduce ideas and rituals of Islam
-Muslim ships carried Sufis
-Key to widespread conversion was trading city of Malaca-denmark-powerful trading ports of
Java-Celebes and spice slaves-Mindanao (S. Philippines)
49. What was Muslim law used for?
-To regulate business deals in trade
50. Why did Islam have difficulties with people converting?
-Already established Buddhism or Hinduism hindered spread
-Islam had slow progress in central java where Hindu-Buddhist dynasties contested its spread
-Island of Bali- Hinduism popular, mainland SE Asia-Buddhism
-However many Indian religions confined to ruins elite in Java leaving opening for mass
conversions to Islam
SUFI MYSTICS AND THE NATURE OF SOUTEAST ASIAN ISLAM
51. Why were the Sufis more successful in gaining converts?
-Believed by many of followers to have magical powers
-Established mosques and school centers where they preach the faith
-Allowed inhabitants of islands SE Asia to retain pre-Islamic beliefs and practices that
Orthodox scholars would have opposed.
IN DEPTH—CONVERSION AND ACCOMODATION IN THE SPREAD OF WORLD RELIGIONS
52. What are common characteristics of world religions?
-Spread across many cultures and societies, forge links between civilized centers, bring
civilized lifestyles to nomadic pastoral or shifting, cultivation people
-Must be broad and flexible enough to accommodate existing culture of potential converts
-Core beliefs must be well defined to allow followers to have clear sense of common identity
despite various cultures and societies
CONCLUSION
53. How did it impact nomads?
-It enriched lives of nomadic people such as Turks and Mongols of central Asia and Berbers of
N. Africa and Camel herders of Sudan