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Origins
By 600, Byzantium and the Sasanids had been
fighting for four centuries
Their power broken by Arabs in the seventh century
Arabia
Nomadic Bedouin population
Small kingdoms – some client to Byzantines
Some pagan, Christian, Jewish
Mecca – center of caravan trade
Pilgrimage site because of Ka’ba (Kaaba)
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Origins (cont.)
Arabic language defined and linked Arabs
Semitic tongue of Afro-Asiatic family
Arabs divided by religion, blood feuds
Shared a highly developed poetic idiom
Islam not a religion of the desert
Origins were in a commercial center
First converts were Meccan town townsfolk and
Yathrib (Medina) date farmers
Most Arabs were pagans before conversion
Caravans – connection to diverse cultures
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Introduction
Islamic civilization
Last great world civilization to appear
Creation of distinctive Islamic religious, social, and
political institutions
Within an Arab-dominated empire
The story of evolution of these institutions into a
cosmopolitan array of culture
Derived from single prophetic event
Muhammad’s proclamation of the Qur’an
Gave Arabs a new unity
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Muhammad the Qur’an
Muhammad – 570-632
Orphan from Meccan Quraysh tribe
Khadija
Troubled by idolatry, worldliness
Felt called to warn Arabs
• About their disregard for morality
• About the worship due God
Called by Gabriel to be prophet of God
Qur’an – “reciting” of God’s Word
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Message of the Qur’an
The Prophet is to warn people
Against worship of false gods
Against immorality
• Especially injustice to poor, orphans, widows, and women in
general
Judgment Day
Eternal punishment or eternal joy
Recognition of God’s transcendence
Islam – “submission” to God’s will
Muslim – “submissive” or “surrendering”
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Ethical Monotheism
Ethical monotheism of Judaic and Christian
tradition reached logical conclusion
Strongly theocentric vision
Absolute obedience to one god
Prophets
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus
Salih – nonbiblical Arabian figure
Muhammad as final prophet
Jews and Christians summoned to respond to
moral imperatives of Qur’an
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Early Career of Muhammad
Largely ignored at first
Others viewed him as a threat
Hegira – “emigration”
In 622 Muhammad called to Yathrib (Medina)
• Settle dispute – five warring tribes
Starting point of Islamic calendar
Creation of a distinctive Islamic community (Umma)
Arab Jews of Medina rejected his message
Moving Muhammad to turn against them
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Foundations
Allegiance to the Umma
Honesty in public and person affairs
Modesty in personal habits
Improved treatment of women
Ritual ablution before prayer
Daily prayer – 3 then later 5 times daily
Tithe to support less fortunate Muslims
Daytime fasting during Ramadan
Hajj – pilgrimage to Mecca
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Roots of Toleration
Acceptance of Islamic political authority brought
tolerance
“Peoples of the Scripture”
Jews and Christians who accepted Islamic rule
Many alliances sealed with marriages
Tiny band of Muslims bound together by
Personal allegiance to Muhammad
Submission (Islam) to God
Membership in the Umma of “submitters”
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Women in Early Islamic Society
Qur’an improved status of women
Prohibits female infanticide
Outlines rights to inherit, own, and manage property
Negotiate own marriage
Negative Aspects
No full equality – legitimizes patriarchal society
Polygamy
Seclusion
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Birth of Caliphate
Death of Muhammad in 632
No son or designated successor
Challenge to the Umma
Abu Bakr – r. 632-634
Caliph – (khalifa) successor
Reestablished Medinan hegemony
Umma was a new kind of supratribal community that
demanded more than allegiance to a particular leader
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Early Expansion
Umar – r. 634-644 and Uthman – r. 644-656
Iran, Egypt, Fertile Crescent
Last Sasanid ruler defeated in 651
Ali – r. 656-661 – Civil war
Mu’awiya – r. 661-680
Islamic fleet – Cyprus, Sicily, Rhodes
Constantinople besieged
Raids into Spain in 711
Defeated at Poitiers by Charles Martel, 732
Arabic armies in Indus region in 710
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Factors of Success
Weakened state of Byzantines and Sasanids
New sense of unity
Religious zeal
Desire to extend Dar al-Islam
Too much can be made of jihad
Toleration – Jizya
Temptation of greater prosperity elsewhere
Astute policies of early leaders
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New Islamic Order
Expansion demanded new political, social,
cultural reality
Caliphate
At first, succession similar to choosing shaykhs
Change with Islamic influence
• Caliph – khalifa “successor”
• Imam – “leader”
• Emir – “commander”
First four caliphs associated with pristine purity
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Umayya Caliphate 661-750
First civil war – 656-661
Mu’awiya – r. 661-680
Kinsman of Uthman
Founded first dynastic caliphate
Not viewed in same light as “rightly guided” caliphs
Seen as too worldly by conservatives
Would fall to Abbasids
Dissension among Arab tribal factions, non-Arab
resentment of Arab preference,
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Ulama
Religious leadership in Umma not with caliphs
With Muslims recognized for piety and learning
Sought as authorities
Most concerned with preserving, interpreting, and
applying the Qur’an
Precedents from Meccan and Medinan practice
Oral traditions
Enduring pattern of education based on study
under persons highest in chain of trustworthy
Muslims linking current age to earliest Umma
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Ulama (cont.)
Ulama – “persons of right knowledge”
Scholars who studied religious history
• Personal legal decisions
• Collective discussions of issues
Shari’a – divine law
Centers of Ulama – Medina, Mecca, Iraq
Ulama as guardians of Muslim conscience
Creation of a workable moral-legal system based on a
scholarly elite
Ulama shared leadership with rulers
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Umma
Strength of Qur’anic message was universalism
New converts still second class
“Clients”
Diwan – army register
• Perpetuated Arab precedence
Dominance of Arabic language
Early Persian-Arab tensions
Persian cultural renaissance – impact on Arabs
Different interpretations of the Umma
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Kharijites
Roots in first civil war 656-661
Kharijites - “seceders” from Ali’s camp
Muslim policy on strict Qur’anic principles
Total equality of the faithful
Leader of the Umma should be best Muslim
Rigorist view of membership
Anyone who commits a major sin no longer a Muslim
Moral imperatives of Muslim duty
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Shi’a
Relates to leadership of Umma
Murder of Ali by Kharijite in 661
Murder of Ali’s son Husayn at Kaarbala, 680
Shi’at Ali – “partisans of Ali”
Shi’ites believed Ali to be chosen successor
Idea of divinely inspired knowledge
Passed from Muhammad to heirs
Leader of Islamic world should carry
Muhammad’s blood and spiritual authority
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Centrists
Choice between Kharijites and Shi’a
Most Muslims accepted a central position
Sunnis – followers of the tradition (sunna)
of the Prophet and Qur’an
Broad middle spectrum of Muslims
• Put communal solidarity and maintenance of the
Islamic polity above purist tie to a particular
theology
Inclusive rather than exclusive
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Sunni Foundations
Basic ideas of Sunnis
Umma is a theocratic entity
• Qur’an
• Muhammad’s precedence
• Interpretive efforts and consensus of Muslims
Caliph absolute temporal ruler
Muslim – “There is no God but God, and
Muhammad is God’s prophet.”
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The High Caliphate
Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik 692
Victory in second civil war
Consolidates power of caliph
Era of political strength, cultural vibrancy,
wealth, and centralization
Height of caliphal power and splendor 786833
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Abbasid State
Abbasid revolution ended Arab dominance
Baghdad – capital – “city of peace”
Eastward shift in cultural and political orientation
Claimed descent from al-Abbas
Height under Harun al-Rashid – r. 786-809
Mamluks – slave soldiers
Caliphs eventually dominated by mamluks
Alienation of Muslim populace
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Society
Deep division between rules and populace
Typical of most Islamic societies
Central power of Abbasids waned
Provincial rulers still recognized authority
Iraq and Iran saw full Islamization of local elite
before mid-twelfth century
Followed by Spain, North Africa, Syria
Full Islamization diminished need for centralized
caliphal power
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Decline of the Caliphate
Disputes over the succession of the Prophet
Divided Muslims
Spain, North Africa, Iran & Egypt established
independent states and caliphates
Rise of Shi’ite clan
Seljuk sultans
Figurehead caliphs
Mongols kill last caliph 1258
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“Classical” Islamic Culture
Abbasid rich cultural legacy
Sophisticated tastes
Thirst for knowledge
Philosophy & Sciences
Translation of Greek works
Progress in astronomy, medicine
Preservation of Greek works
• Europe cultural backwater
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Culture (cont.)
Language and Literature
Adab “manners” literature
Historical and biographical writings
Hadith
Art and Architecture
Adaptation of Graeco-Roman, Byzantine, and Iranian
art
Calligraphic motifs
Iconoclasm
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