Download Chapter 6: The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam

Comunicación y Gerencia
Chapter 6: The First
Global Civilization: The
Rise and Spread of Islam
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The Arabian World in the 7th
Century
Most of the area is covered by desert
Bedouin culture had developed throughout Arabia
A form of nomadic life
Nomadic Pastoralism
Areas adjacent to the Red Sea had trading towns that
developed which would play a role in later cultural
exchanges.
The cities of Mecca and Medina were greatly influenced
and often founded by Bedouin traders.
The Arabian World
• Social Organization was similar to those of
other nomadic peoples
– Kin-related clan groups
– Shaykhs (Sheiks) were leaders of the tribes
and clans
• Most usually men with large herds, several wives
• Warriors enforce the wishes of the Shaykhs
– Slave families also worked for the Shaykhs
The Arabian World
• War was common between rival clans,
specifically due to the marginal nature of the
environment
• Cycle of violence (small-but, bloody)
– Clan feud (100’s of years)
• Death of one warrior
• Revenge needed
• Revenge killings lead to reprisals
– This leads to constant infighting, but more
importantly, the Bedouins are manipulated by
neighboring powers
The Arabian World
• Mecca was a trading city that flourished
during the trade between the Mediterranean
and Asia
– Founded by the Umayyad clan, of the Quraysh
Bedouin tribe
– Mecca’s status was elevated because it was the
site of the Ka’ba, a pre-Islamic religious shrine
• The Ka’ba was supposedly first built by Adam, then
later reconstructed by Abraham (Ibrahim) and his son
Ishmael (Ismail)
• This shrine was used as a source of truce in the
interclan feuds, allowing merchants to go to Mecca
and trade without fear
The Ka’ba
The Ka’ba
The
Arabian
World
The Arabian World
• The City of Yathrib, later to be known as Medina
was northeast of Mecca
• Established in an oasis
• Medina was engaged in the long-distance caravan
trade that passed through the Arabian Peninsula,
but less so than Mecca
• In contrast to Umayyad dominated Mecca,
Medina’s control was contested among two
Bedouin and three Jewish clans.
– Quarrels hurt Medina economically
– BUT, Muhammad would use this division to help the
survival of the Islamic faith
The Arabian World…women
• Pre-Islamic Arabian women enjoyed a higher status
than most in neighboring civilized centers
(Byzantine/Sassanian)
• Many tribes traced descent through the mother
(matrilineal)
– Unlike Syria and Persia, a woman’s advice was highly
regarded in clan and tribal councils.
• NOT equal to men (could not claim glory as
warriors)
• Status varied from clan to clan
• In cities and towns, women enjoyed less status
– Patrilineal lines
– Male polygamy/female monogamy
Pre-Islamic Arabian World
• Arab material culture was not
developed
• Oral transmission of poetry (no
written language, yet)
• Religion was a blend of animism
and polytheism
– The Quraysh recognized a
supreme god known as Allah, but
rarely prayed or sacrificed to/for
him…focus on spirits who had more
focus on their daily lives.
Muhammad
• Born around 570 CE into a prominent clan
in the Quraysh tribe, the Banu Hashim
• After losing his father before birth and his
mother shortly after, Muhammad found
himself living in Mecca in his 20s as a trader
for Khadijah
• Exposed him to the wider world
• Increased commerce exposed the economic
gap between clans
Muhammad
• Muhammad would have been very aware of
the undercurrents of religious tension
throughout the Arabian peninsula
– Stressing Monotheism
– Dissatisfaction with the old gods
• Muhammad became distracted and
dissatisfied with a life focused on material
gain…
– Increased time in meditation
Muhammad
• By 610, he received the first of many
revelations which his followers believe were
transmitted from Allah to Muhammad
through the angel Gabriel.
– They were later written in Arabic and collected
in the Qur’an
• At first, his following was small…
• In time, Umayyad notables noticed him, and
saw what he was preaching as a threat…
Muhammad
•The new faith that Muhammad was
preaching threatened to supplant the gods
of the Ka’ba
•Moreover, members of his own clan
plotted to murder him
•Muhammad had developed a reputation
for being a skillful and fair negotiator, which
could help him as he seeks refuge…
•Muhammad is invited to Medina , which
was almost in a state of civil war.
•In 622, Muhammad and his small band of
followers successfully flee to Medina
•This becomes known as the HIJRA, or
flight to Medina. This represents year
ONE on the Muslim Calendar.
In Medina…
• He settles the quarrels between the various
Bedouin clans
• His Wisdom and Skill as a political leader
win him new followers…
• To the Umayyad clan leaders…this was now
a double threat…
– Muhammad was preaching a religion inconsistent
with how they made money!
– Muhammad was now HELPING their chief
rival city find stability!
In Medina…
• Muslims launched attacks on Meccan
Caravans
• The Quraysh then launch attacks on
Medina
– During battles, Muhammad proves himself to be
an able leader and courageous fighter.
– Treaty with the Quraysh in 628, which also
allowed Muhammad and followers to visit the
Ka’ba during the time of truce
– By this time, Muhammad had around 10,000
followers
Back to Mecca…
• In 629, Muhammad
and his followers return
to Mecca.
• He and his followers
smash the idols of the
shrine and the
conversion of the
Umayyads had begun!
Islam
• Early on, Muhammad
relies on the faith being
adopted by town
dwellers and Bedouins
with which he had
grown up.
• Parallel with
Christianity who relied
on Jewish converts…
What did Islam offer Arabians?
• Monotheism that belonged to no single tribe
• Transcended clan and class divisions
• Distinctly Arab in origin, and yet, the equal
in faiths in comparison to Christians and
Jews.
• NO intermediaries between the people and
God.
– God was one…no saints, and angels were
messengers
• Offered an end to the vendettas and feuds
What did Islam offer Arabians?
• The umma, or community of the faithful
transcended old tribal boundaries
– Political unity…
– With unity, the Bedouins found energy not
towards warring against each other, but in
conquering land and territory in the name of
Allah.
• Provided an ethical system
– Dignity of all before Allah
– Responsibility of the well-off to provide for the
poor and weak. The ZAKAT was a tax for
charity.
Beliefs of Islam
• Islam shares many
beliefs of the earlier
Semitic religions of
Judaism and
Christianity
– Accepts the revelations
– Muhammad believes he
receives a refinement of
these earlier revelations
and they are the last
divine instructions for
human behavior and
worship.
Beliefs of Islam
• The FIVE PILLARS
OF FAITH
– Confession of faith:
There is one God, Allah
– Pray 5 times a day facing
Mecca
– Fast during the month of
Ramadan
– The Zakat
– The Hajj, or pilgrimage to
the Holy City of Mecca
and to the Ka’ba (if you
can)
The Hajj
After Muhammad
• Muhammad dies in 632 CE (suddenly)
• Many renounce the Islamic faith, and it
threatens to vanish…
• In time, Umayyad leaders take over (amidst
considerable quarrels over who should succeed
Muhammad) and begin a stunning military
campaign to spread Islam beyond the Arabian
Peninsula
• This was a largely ARAB conquest under the
guise of Islam…very little concern in conversion
After Muhammad
• When Muhammad died, there was no
appointed successor, nor a method by which
to appoint a successor.
• Opinion in the Muslim community was
divided.
• On the afternoon of his death, clan leaders
met to choose a caliph, or political and
religious successor to Muhammad.
– Ali, cousin, and son-in-law to Muhammad was
passed over because he was too young.
– This would be a source of great conflict soon
Caliph…
• Abu Bakr was chosen
as the first caliph in 632
CE
– One of Muhammad’s
closest friends and
earliest followers
– Courage, warmth, and
wisdom
– Well-versed in the
genealogical histories of
the Bedouin tribes
– Was Caliph from 632634 CE
Abu Bakr and Caliphs
• Abu Bakr was able to use his military
commanders well, turning back attacks on
Mecca, and then turned north of the
Arabian Peninsula, conquering Iraq and
Syria, and east into Egypt.
• Initial assaults against the Byzantine and
Persian empires were successful
• Combined Bedouin forces, joined by
peoples in the Fertile Crescent turned to
begin attacks on the two empires to their
East and West.
Byzantine and Sassanian
geographical relativity
Motives…
• The Wars which initially expanded the
Arabs beyond the Peninsula were not
necessarily motivated by a desire to spread
the faith
– Muslims were exempted from taxes levied on
other groups
– They would have to share with other Muslims
• Thus, the concept of the Jihad, or holy war,
launched to spread the faith misrepresents
the forces behind early Arab expansion
The Arab Conquests
• The Sassanian (Persian) Empire proved to be
weak
– Zoroastrianism lacked popular roots
– Emperor was manipulated
– By 651, the last Emperor was assassinated
• Muslims received support against the
Byzantine Empire from Copts and
Nestorians, who were Christians residing in
Syria and Egypt.
– They resented the rule of the Orthodox
Byzantines, who taxed them heavily
– They realized that the Muslims would accept them
more, and tax them less
The Arab Conquests
• The Byzantines were hurt badly by Arab
assaults
– Syria, western Iraq, and Palestine were taken by
the Arabs
– Egypt (including Alexandria) was taken
– Bedouin fleets were rivaling the once mighty
Byzantine control of the Eastern
Mediterranean by the mid-640s.
– Muslims conquered lands in North Africa, the
Mediterranean Islands, and even southern Italy.
Arab Expansion
Divisions in the Muslim
Community
• Umar takes over as Caliph between 634644 following the death of Abu Bakr
– It is during Umar reign that the conquests of the
Sassanid and Byzantine empires take place
– In 637, Umar signs a treaty with the Byzantine
Patriarch and takes over Jerusalem, entering the
city peacefully.
– Umar is assassinated in 644 by a Persian Slave
Divisions in the Muslim
Community
• The Islamic community was still divided on
the issue of succession
– The conquests helped to hide the divisions, but,
– Soon, divisions arose over how to divide the
spoils of war
• The Third Caliph, Uthman, from the
(former enemy of Muhammad) Umayyad
Clan was murdered.
Divisions in the Muslim
Community
• When Uthman was murdered, supporters of Ali
(related to Muhammad) proclaimed him to be
the new caliph.
• The Umayyad clan denied this, and were upset
because Ali failed to punish Uthman’s
assassins.
• Warfare erupted…
• Most Arabs were on the side of Ali, a famous
warrior and experienced Commander.
Umayyad support was centered on Syria and
Mecca
Ali
• Ali was about to
defeat the forces at
the Battle of Siffin in
657, but he was won
over by a plea to
mediate.
– During this time, the
Umayyad forces
regrouped…retaking
Egypt
Ali
• In 660, Mu’awiya, the
new leader of the
Umayyads, was
proclaimed caliph in
Jerusalem…directly
challenging Ali.
• Ali would be
assassinated a year later.
• His son, Hasan, was
pressured into
renouncing claims to the
caliphate.
Divisions persist…
Sunni Muslims
• Back the Umayyads claim
to the caliphate.
• Believe influential leaders
in the Muslim community
should become Caliph
• Continued struggle
against the Shi’a
– Struggle with Husayn, Ali’s
second son
– Umayyads are victorious
and kill Husayn at Karbala
in 680
Shi’a Muslims
• Supporters of Ali
• The Most Fundamental
Muslims in the world
• Recognize NONE of the
Early Caliphs, except Ali.
• Splinter sects make it even
more confusing…from when
Ali agreed to mediation at
Siffin
The Conquest Continues!
• After the pause to settle internal disputes,
Arab conquests continue in the second half of
the 7th century
• Central Asia: sparks rivalry with Buddhism
which continues to this day
• Northwest India
• Across North Africa, Strait of Gibraltar and
into Spain, threatening France
– Advance halted in 732 CE
• The Umayyads controlled an empire that
stretched from Spain in the West to the
steppes of Central Asia in the East.
Expansion through the Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate
• Mecca remains the holiest city in Islam
• Umayyads shift the political capital of the
Islamic Empire to Damascus, Syria after the
murder of Uthman
• From Damascus, the Umayyads built an
impressive bureaucracy designed to rule the
vast territory ruled under the banner of Islam.
– On Muslim Arabs were first-class citizens
– Taxed only for charity
The Umayyad Caliphate
• Intermarriage between
conquered peoples
and the Muslim warrior
elite was widespread
• Conversion did little to
advance non-believers
– Muslim converts, mawali,
still had to pay property
taxes
– Sometimes still had to
pay the jizya, or head
tax levied on nonbelievers
The Umayyad Caliphate
• Mawali received no
share of the booty
from futher conquests.
• They were not
considered full
members of the umma
• During the Umayyad
era, the amount of
conversions was low
• The Dhimmi, were people
of the book and applied to
Christians and Jews
originally, but eventually
would encompass the
majority groups in any area
conquered.
• They had to pay the
Jizya…but their legal
systems were left intact.
• Additionally, they were
given the freedom to
worship as they pleased.
The Umayyad Caliphate
• The Dhimmi accepted Muslim rule often
because it was better than their previous
rulers.
• Family and Gender Roles
– Muhammad encouraged marriage
– Denounced adultery
– Forbade female infanticide
– Men could marry up to four wives
– Enhanced rights of inheritance and divorce for
women
The Umayyad Caliphate
• Muhammad proclaimed the equality of men
and women before God.
– Many women (his wife, Khadijah) were some of
Muhammad’s earliest followers
– Many of the hadiths, or traditions of the
prophet Muhammad were recorded by women.
– Muhammad’s wives and daughters played an
important role in compiling the Qur’an.
• In time, the Umayyad Caliphs would fall
victim to the addiction to luxury and easyliving
Decline of the Umayyad
• The Umayyad abandonment of the frugal,
simple lifestyle followed by Muhammad and the
earliest caliphs, including Abu Bakr, enraged
the dissenting sects.
• In the Eastern Iranian borderlands of the
Empire, a group of 50,000 warriors had settled
in the town of Merv.
– These warriors were not happy with the Damascus
elite
• Never saw a share of the booty they earned
• A revolt in the early 740’s would spark a revolution that
would spread throughout the empire.
The Umayyad Fall…
• Marching under the banner of the Abbasid
party…
– Traced descent to Muhammad’s uncle, alAbbas
– Open warfare by 747 CE
– Abu al-Abbas, the great-grandson of alAbbas, won victory after victory.
– The Abbasid’s won the support of the Shia
and the Mawali
The end of the Umayyad…sort
of
• Abu al-Abbas invited members of the
Umayyad clan to a reconciliation banquet.
• There, guards slaughtered all members of
the Umayyad clan.
– Family members were hunted down throughout
the empire and killed.
– The grandson of a former caliph established the
Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba in Spain,
which went on for centuries.
The Abbasid Era
• Fundamental conversion of the Arab
Empire to a more Islamic Empire
• Transformation of Islam from a small Arab
warrior elite to genuinely universal faith.
• Abbasid’s rejected many of the old allies,
becoming more righteous in their defense of
Sunni Islam
• Abbasid’s built their new capital in the city
of Baghdad.
The Abbasid Era
• Abbasid caliph’s palaces were equal to their
claims of absolute power.
– Expanding corps of bureaucrats, servants, and
slaves.
– Increased power of the wazir, or chief
administrator and head of the caliph’s councils
• Full-integration of new converts, both Arab
and non-Arab
– Converts were now exempt from the Jizya and
had greater opportunities in education and in
their careers.
Revived Commercialism
• Rise in wealth and social status of the merchant
and landlord classes.
• Great urban expansion was linked to a revival of
the Afro-Eurasian trading network
– Declined with the fall of the Han and collapse of the
Roman Empire.
• The Abbasids in the West and the Tang and
Song in the East formed the pivotal centers of
trade
• In the countryside, a wealthy elite, the ayan
emerged
Abbasid Golden Age
• At first, Arabs were not well connected to
the wider world.
– No true educational system
– Clash of ideals when they conquer Alexandria!
• Early Abbasid artistic expression was
focused on great mosques
• Early Abbasid learning focused on science
and math, specifically recovering and
preserving the learning of the ancient
civilizations in the Mediterranean and
Middle East
Abbasid Golden Age
• Muslim and Jewish scholars revive the
writings of the Greeks on subjects such as
– Medicine
– Algebra
– Geometry
– Astronomy
– Anatomy
– Ethics
• Through Spain, Greek writings found their
way into Christendom.