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Chapter 10
The Islamic
World
Rome’s Three Heirs
Byzantium
Islam
Latin Christendom
Islam
Arabs before Muhammad
Polytheism
Kaaba, a pilgrimage shrine
located in Mecca, in which the
sacred Black Stone (probably
a meteorite) is housed.
Politically disunited
The Prophet Muhammad
c. 570: Birth of Muhammad
c. 610: Mohammed’s conversion;
revelations from Gabriel
622: The hijra (“migration”)
Muhammad fled to Medina
First year in Muslim calendar
630: Muhammad captured Mecca
632: Muhammad died.
Orthodox Caliphate
632-661 (the first four caliphs)
634-644: Omar
634: Conquest of Damascus
636: Conquest of Jerusalem and
Persia
640: Conquest of Egypt
The Expansion of Islam, 622 - ca. 750
http://mh1.xplana.com/imagevault/upload/44cdc9b11080f6cc70ca.jpg
Omayyad Caliphate
(Damascus)
661-750
Conquest of North Africa
and Spain.
Abbasid Caliphate
(Baghdad)
750-1258
1258: Mongols sacked
Baghdad. Abbasid Caliphate
ended.
Two Governing Orientations
Umayyads
Westward
Damascus
661-750
vs.
Abbasids
Eastward
Baghdad
8th-10th
centuries
Omayyad Emirate in Spain
756-1031
1056: Ferdinand I of Castile
proclaimed himself “Emperor of
Spain,” beginning the “Reconquista.”
1492: End of the Reconquista in
Spain.
The Ottoman Empire
1350-1918
1453: Constantinople was conquered.
1914: The Ottoman Empire entered
World War I
1919-1924: End of the Ottoman
Empire
References
http://campus.northpark.edu/history/W
ebChron/Islam/Islam.html
http://campus.northpark.edu/history/W
ebChron/Islam/Beliefs.html
Islamic Culture
Allah = God
Islam = submission to God’s will
Muslims = those who submit
Jihad = the struggle to lead a
virtuous life and to further the
universal mission of Islam through
teaching, preaching, and when
necessary, warfare.
Religion
Strict monotheism.
Emphasis on personal morality set
by the Quran (or Koran; literally,
“recitation”).
Absence of clergy.
Five Pillars of Faith
(1) Declaring the central belief: “There
is no god but Allah, and Muhammad
is the Messenger of God.”
(2) Saying prayers five times a day
(3) Almsgiving
(4) Fasting from dawn until sunset
during the sacred month of Ramadan
(5) Making the pilgrimage to Mecca
Government
Theocracy: government and
religion are inseparable.
Caliph: the supreme religious
and political leader of all
Muslims.
Scholarship
Arab scholars preserved
hundreds of ancient
Greek manuscripts,
copying and editing them
in Arabic translations
(Fiero 227).
Scholarship
The fund of scientific and
technological knowledge, along
with Arabic scholarship on
Aristotle, stimulated a rebirth of
learning in the 12th century and
contributed to the rise of Western
universities (Fiero 227).
Literature
Poetry: Romantic love was a
favorite subject, which had
profound influence on the
medieval romance
(troubadour poetry) and the
Renaissance poet Petrarch
(Fiero 228).
Literature
Sufi Poetry: A sufi is an ascetic
Islam mystic who seeks to hold
communion with the deity through
contemplation and ecstasy.
“Whatsoever I say in exposition
and explanation of Love,
when I come to Love itself I am
ashamed of that explanation.”
(Rumi)
Literature
Prose:
The Thousand and One Night
Islamic Art
Taken from
http://www.victorynewsmagazine.com/Arabesque.htm
Idolatry Is Forbidden.
Calligraphy
Arabesque
Thus, depiction of foliage in its
varied forms became a very
prominent feature of Arabesque art.
One can visualize a strong link
between art and nature in Islamic
monuments where scrolling vines,
surreal flowers and gracefully
flowing leaves can be seen
everywhere . . . .
Inspiration
The single most important factor
that influenced the creation and
evolution of Islamic Art is the Quran
itself. One can find many verses in
the Quran mentioning the beauty
and abundance of Paradise with its
exquisite gardens beneath which
rivers flow.
Geometric Forms
Islam and science were never seen
as two separate subjects. From the
Islamic viewpoint, geometry is one of
the streams that flows from the
Fountainhead of Islam. This belief
that science is an integral part of
Islam led to many discoveries and
advancements in the field of
mathematics by Muslims.
Islamic Art is therefore
characterized by a beautiful
combination of artistic foliage
designs with geometric
principles. The combination
creates exquisite works of art
unique only to the Islamic
Cultural heritage.
Regulating Principles
Repetition
Infinite extension
The looping together of
motifs to form a meandering,
overall pattern (Fiero 231).
Arches of the Great Mosque, Córdoba, Spain, begun 784-787. White marble and red sandstone,
http://mh1.xplana.com/imagevault/upload/08fcc1f55767cf1eb258.jpg
Court of the Lions, Alhambra palace, Granada. Mid-14th century.
http://mh1.xplana.com/imagevault/upload/727024f6dfff6a69cf5f.jpg
Sinan the Great, Mosque of Suleyman I, Istanbul, Turkey, begun 1550.
http://mh1.xplana.com/imagevault/upload/f7e3dee5e1758fc86ce5.jpg
http://www.greatbuilding
s.com/cgibin/gbi.cgi/Suyleman_M
osque.html/cid_172334
3.html
Sinan the Great. Interior of the mosque of Suleyman l, Istanbul, Turkey.
http://mh1.xplana.com/imagevault/upload/274a26e864a3c729b69a.jpg
Entry portal, Shah
Mosque, Isfahan,
Persia (Iran), 16111666.
http://mh1.xplana.c
om/imagevault/uplo
ad/b33a2d8234165
78dce23.jpg
The End