Download Chapter 7: Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islam

Chapter 7: Abbasid Decline and the
Spread of Islam
AP World History
Spread of Islam: Early History
Spread of Islam: Abbasid Dynasty
The Late Abbasid Era
• As early as the third Abbasid Caliph,
al-Mahdi (775-785), issues related to
the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate
were apparent.
• Somewhat typical pattern:
• Caliph abandons frugal ways of predecessors
• Caliph does NOT establish clear pattern of
succession
• In many cases, wives/concubines
became involved in the various
palace intrigues associated with the
succession crises.
The Late Abbasid Era
• Harun al-Rashid (786809) ascended to the
throne after the
death of al-Mahdi
(and the poisoning of
his eldest son)
• Harun al-Rashid
enjoyed the
sumptuous palace
living
• Emissaries sent in the
9th century were
dazzled with the
splendor of Baghdad
Harun al-Rashid
• Power of Royal Advisors grew
throughout the rule of Harun al-Rashid.
• Caliphs became pawns in the
factional royal court battles…
• Upon al-Rashid’s death, full-scale civil
war broke out amongst those vying for
power.
• While al-Ma’mum (813-833) was the
victor…what he did next truly
changed the nature of the
Caliphate…
Slave Armies
• Al-Ma’mum was convinced to
conscript thousands of mostly Turkicspeaking slaves as his personal
bodyguards.
• As the number eclipsed 70,000 the
slave regiment became a power
center, in its own right.
• By 846, they had murdered the
reigning caliph, and in the coming
decades would murder at least four
more
Abbasid Decline
• Caliphs struggle to control the Slave
Regiments
• Some Caliphs want to move capital
away from Baghdad turmoil
• Increased spending
• New irrigation…
• Old irrigation and public works fall into
disrepair
• Spiraling taxation/pillaging, etc…
• Abandonment of some of the earlier
provinces of the empire.
Late Abbasid Decline…women
• The Harem and the
Veil are the twin
emblems of
women’s increasing
subjugation to men
and confinement.
• The Abbasid court
created the
concept of the
Harem for the
Caliphate.
Further Abbasid Decline
• In 945, the Buyids of
• The Abbasids were
Persia invade and
losing territory
capture Baghdad.
quickly…
• Caliphs became
• Egypt and Syria
puppets controlled
break away from
by families, like the
Abbasid rule
Buyids.
• In once-provincial
• Buyid leaders took
areas of the Islamic
the title of “sultan”
Caliphate,
meaning “victorious”
independent
in Arabic, which will
kingdoms had arose
designate Muslim
to challenge the
rulers.
Abbasids
The Seljuks
• By 1055, the Buyid
control over the
Caliphate was
broken
• In 1055, Central Asian
Nomadic warriors
known as the Seljuk
Turks ruled over the
Abbasid lands.
• Staunch Sunnis…kick
Shia’s out of
governmental
positions
• Resisted the Byzantines
who were taking
advantage of Muslim
disunity
Seljuk Turks
• Defeat of the
Byzantines led to
the settlement of
Asia Minor which
would eventually
become the seat of
the Ottoman
Empire
The Crusades
The Crusades
• Knights from Western Europe launched
crusades to capture portions of the
Islamic world that made up the Holy
Land of Biblical times.
• Muslim divisions and the element of
surprise made the first Crusade a
Christian success.
• 1099: Christian knights took Jerusalem.
• Muslim and Jewish inhabitants were
massacred
First Crusade
First Crusade
The Crusades
• For the next two centuries, Europeans
would mount in excess of 8 crusades.
• Varying degrees of success
• When Muslim were united under
powerful rule like Salah-ud-Din
(Saladin) they re-conquer most of the
lands they lost.
• The last crusader kingdom fell in Acre
in 1291
Third Crusade gets Acre, but then the
Europeans lose it!
Impact of Crusades
• The Crusaders’ experiences in the
Eastern Mediterranean intensified
European “borrowing” from the Muslim
world.
• Through increased cultural contacts,
Europeans began to recover much of
the Greek learning lost during the
waves of nomadic invasions after the
fall of the Roman Empire
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Even though the caliphate was steeped
in political turmoil, the Muslim Empire still
experienced growth and prosperity until
late in the Abbasid era.
• Declining Revenue
• Deteriorating conditions in the
countryside/town life
• Expansion of the professional classes
• Muslim/Jewish/Christian entrepreneurs
amass great fortunes supplying cities with
staples (grain/barley), essentials (cotton,
woolen textiles for clothing), and luxury
items.
• Long-Distance trade flourishes
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Artists and Artisans benefit
• Mosques and palaces became more
ornate.
• Tapestries and rugs from Persia were in
great demand from Europe to China.
• Persian becomes the language of
“high culture.”
• Arabic remains language of religion, law,
and natural sciences
• Persian was language of literary
expression, administration, and scholarship.
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Persian writers in the Abbasid era write
on many subjects from love affairs, to
statecraft, to incidents from everyday
life.
• Blend of mystical and commonplace.
• Not only did Muslims revive GrecoRoman scientific traditions…they
developed their own theories as well!
• Major corrections to algebraic and
geometric theories
• Advances in trigonometry
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Great advances in
chemistry and
astronomy.
• Cairo: best hospitals
in the world
• Muslim traders
introduce techniques
like papermaking
and silk-weaving that
was developed in
China.
• Development of
cartography
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Contradictory
trends in Islamic
Civilization
• Social strife and
political divisions
• Vs
• Expanded trading
links and intellectual
creativity
• This was felt in the
religious world, as
well…
• A resurgence of
mysticism
• Vs
• Orthodox religious
scholars become
wary of non-Islamic
ideas and scientific
thinking (crusades)
Religious contradictions
• Orthodox religious scholars felt that the
revival of Greco-Roman philosophical
traditions would erode the absolute
authority of the Qur’an
• Sufi movement…
• Sufis are wandering mystics who sought a
personal union with Allah
• A reaction against the abstract divinity of the
Qur’an
• Sufis gain reputations as healers and miracle
workers…gain sizeable followings
• Some led militant bands that spread Islam to
nonbelievers
The End of the Caliphate
• By the 10th and 11th
centuries, the
Abbasid Caliphate
was compromised by
many different
factions
• In the early 13th
century, the Mongols,
united under
Chinggis Khan
became a powerful
force in Asia,
smashing through
Turko-Persian
kingdoms to the east
of Baghdad by 1220
CE.
The End of the Caliphate
• Genghis dies before
conquest of the
Islamic Heartlands,
but his grandson,
Hulegu renewed
the assault on the
Islamic lands in the
1250s.
• By 1258, the
Abbasid capital of
Baghdad was taken
by the Mongols
The End of the Caliphate
• The 37th and last
Abbasid Caliph was
put to death by the
Mongols.
• The Mongol
advance was
stopped by the
Mamluks, or Turkic
Slaves who ruled
Egypt.
• In 1401, Baghdad
suffers from another
capture and round
of pillaging by the
forces of
Tamerlane.
• Baghdad’s glory
becomes
supplanted by
Cairo to the west
and Istanbul to the
North
The Spread of Islam
Islam’s arrival in South Asia
• India through the Gupta Empire had
been a crossroads of migration for
Central Asian nomads seeking refuge
• Generally, those people were
accepted, and assimilated into Indian
Society.
• The arrival of the Muslims in the 7th
Century CE, will alter that.
The Hindu/Islam mix
India…Hinduism
• Open, tolerant, and
inclusive of varying
forms of religious
devotion.
• Search of union with
spiritual source of all
creation.
• Social system
structured on the caste
system
India…Islam
• Based on doctrines,
practices (specific) and
exclusive worship of a
single god.
• Highly egalitarian in the
sight of god.
• Religious practices are
mandatory and
obvious
The Hindu/Islam mix
• Early centuries were characterized by
violent conflict.
• However, a good deal of trade and religious
interchange.
• In time, peaceful interactions became the
norm
• There were contacts via traders in the
Indian Ocean Trade network as early as
711 CE
• Indian overlords who took over land in
South Asia brought little change to most
inhabitants of the Indian Subcontinent.
• Many people welcomed the Arabs because
they promised lighter taxation and religious
tolerance
Early Muslim encounters in India
• Muslim leaders decided to treat Hindus
and Buddhists as the dhimmi, or
“people of the book” even though
they had no connection to the Bible.
• This meant that Hindus and Buddhists had
to pay the tax on non-believers, they
enjoyed the freedom to worship as they
pleased.
• Little effort was put towards
conversion, so most people remained
Hindu or Buddhist.
Indian/Muslim cultural diffusion
• Muslims inherit the Indian scientific
learning, which rivaled the Greeks as the
most advanced in the world.
• Arabic numerals originated in India
• Indian learning was transferred to
Baghdad in the age of the Abbasids.
• Indian doctors, scientists, etc.
• Muslims adopt Indian styles of dress, food,
and ride on elephants as the Hindu rajas
(kings) did.
• Muslims also adopt and infuse Indian
architectural styles
Move towards Empire…
• Early interactions did little to add
territory to the Muslim Empire, and in
some cases, lost territory
• BUT, in 962 CE, a Turkish slave dynasty
seized power in Afghanistan.
• Their third ruler, Mahmud of Ghazni,
began two CENTURIES of Muslim raiding
and conquest in Northern India
• Throughout the 11th century, Mahmud
defeated one confederation of Hindu
princes after another in the name of
Islam.
• The efforts of
Mahmud of Ghazni
were continued by
Muhammad of
Ghur
• Assassinated in 1206
• A slave lieutenant
seizes
power…Qutb-uddin Aibak
The Delhi Sultanate
• A new Muslim empire
was proclaimed with
the capital at Delhi,
along the Jumna river
on the Gengetic
Plain.
• For the next 300
years, a succession of
dynasties known as
the Delhi Sultante
(literally, princes of
the heartland) ruled
North and Central
India
The Delhi Sultanate
• This was a period of
clashing control
between the
sultanate princes
themselves, as well
as Mongol and
Turkic invaders.
• MAPS OF DELHI
SULTANATE OVER
TIME
Conversion
• Carriers of the new faith on the
subcontinent were often merchants
and Sufi mystics
• Sufis shared many characteristics with
Indian gurus and wandering ascetics.
• Belief in magical healing powers
• Accepted lower-caste and outcaste
groups into Islamic faith
• Most Muslims were NOT from the IndoGangetic centers of the Delhi
Sultanate, indicating low forced
conversions
Conversion
• Most conversions came from low-caste
or Buddhist groups.
• Buddhism became largely debased as a
result of corrupt practices
• Buddhist temples and monasteries
became lucrative targets for raids, etc.
• Many lower-caste, untouchables,
animistic tribes, and Buddhists were
attracted to the egalitarian nature of
Islam
Accommodation
• Hindus were convinced that Muslims
would soon be absorbed by the
superior religions and more
sophisticated cultures of India
• Many things pointed that way!
• Muslim princes adopted regal styles
• Muslim rulers claim divine descent
• Muslim rulers mint coins with Hindu images
• Muslim communities also became
socially divided along Caste lines
• Violation of the original tenets of Islam!
Islam in South Asia at the end of the
Sultanate
• Attempts to fuse Hinduism and Islam
soon were recognized as impossible.
• Brahmans soon denounce Muslim
leaders, etc.
• Muslims respond by strengthening their
unity within the Indian Muslim community
• After centuries of political domination
though, South Asia remained one of
the least converted and integrated of
all the areas Islam reached.
Southeast
Asia
Importance
• Southeast Asia was
CRITICAL to the
connection of trade
from Chinese ports
to Indian vessels
along the Indian
Ocean Trade
network
Southeast Asian contribution
• Aromatic woods
from rainforests of
Borneo and
Sumatra
• Spices: cloves,
nutmeg from
Indonesia
• From 8th Century
onward, coastal
trade in India
became
dominated by
Muslims
SE ASIA
• As a result, elements
of Islam began to
filter into the
southeast Asian
region
• The collapse of the
Shrivijaya trading
empire (Buddhist) in
the 13th century
opened the door
for the widespread
introduction of Islam
SE ASIA
• Trading contacts
paved the way for
conversion
• NOT conquest and
force
• Muslim ships also
carry Sufis to the
various parts of SE
Asia
• Conversion begins
in Sumatra, then
across the Strait of
Malacca to Malaya
SE ASIA
• Muslims impressed SE Asians by telling them how
much of the world had already been converted
Malacca
• Mainland conversion
was centered on
Malacca, a powerful
trading city
• Spreads to east
Sumatra and to
DEMAK on the north
coast of Java
• From there, spread to
the Celebes and
then the Spice
Islands, then to
Mindanao and
Southern Philippines
The Spice Island(s)
Conversion
• Trading was the key
to conversion.
• Regulation of
commonality in
Muslim laws was
good to regulate
business.
• Conversion linked
centers culturally,
and economically to
Indian merchants
and ports in India, the
Middle East, and the
Mediterranean
SE Asian Islam
• Some areas (like
Central Java) saw
conversion take
longer than others
• Hindu-Buddhist
dynasties contested
its spread
• Mainland Southeast
Asia did NOT see
wholesale
conversion, and
remained largely
Buddhist
• Because it was
spread primarily by
Sufis, SE Asian Islam
was more dynamic
than orthodox Islam
• Infused with mythical
strains
• Tolerated animist,
Hindu, and Buddhist
beliefs and rituals.
• Magical powers
Women in SE Asian Islamic Society
• Women retained a strong position in
the family and the community
• Trading in local and regional markets was
dominated by small-scale female
merchants
• As in Western Sumatra, lineage and
inheritance was traced through female
lines
• Many cultural elements were blended
from SE Asian Culture with Muslim
Culture.