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Name:_______________________________
Civilization / Era:
ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
Time Period:
632 AD – 1258 AD
Date:_______________________________
Political Characteristics
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Related Key Concepts
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3.1. Expansion & Intensification of Communication
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and Exchange Networks
3.2. Continuity & Innovation of State Forms and
their Interactions
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3.3 Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its
Consequences
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Most Important Thing to Remember:
2 competing sects
2 caliphates
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Technological Characteristics (Cultural)
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Camel Saddles – gave power &
influence to Arab pastoralists along
caravan routes
(replaced ox carts/chariots by 600CE)
Muslims scientists, doctors,
astronomers, etc. grew more advanced
than European counterparts by
building on Hellenistic thought and
copying Greco-Roman works
Automata – mechanical devices
intended to amaze guests at court
(1st scientific experiments with
machinery)
610 CE – Muhammad has 1st visions as prophet
630 CE – Muhammad leads army of followers
from Medina and forces surrender of Mecca
632 CE – Muhammad dies; no successor
Abu Bakr – Becomes 1st caliph, reaffirms
Muhammad’s ideals, 5 Pillars of Faith, etc.
Umar – 2nd caliph who conquers Syria, Egypt,
Sassanid Empire. Assassinated.
Uthman – 3rd caliph. Also assassinated.
Ali – 4th caliph. Represents challenger for
succession, causing civil war split between
Sunnis (believing 1st 3 caliphs were legit) and
Shi’ites (believing Ali was always best choice)
Umayyad Caliphate – 661 CE – 750 CE
-Capital at Damascus. Arabs rule large empire
as elite minority, though allowing for local
peoples to maintain cultures/bureaucracy.
Army stationed at camps; paid w/ victory booty
711 CE – Muslim-led N. African Berbers
conquer Spain as Iraqi Muslims take Sind in
Indus Valley
750 CE – Umayyad dynasty ended, though 1
member lives to flee to Spain. Caliph title
reasserted later in 929 CE (Adb al-Rahman III)
Abbasid Caliphate – 750 CE – 1258 CE
-Capital at Baghdad. New family overthrows
Umayyad; institutes Sassanid-style gov’t.
Achievements (Cultural)
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Interaction with Environment
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Most Arabs lived in isolated
fishing/trading communities on
southern coast of Arabian peninsula
(More connected to Africa/India via
trade than interior)
Pastoralist nomads inhabited
massive desert regions in interior
peninsula
Contact w/ Sassanid & Byzantine
Empires to north
Mecca – caravan-city home to
Quraysh nomads becomes seat of
power in caravan trade & holy
pilgrimage site
Hijira – Muslim calendar starts with
Muhammad’s flight to Medina
following persecution in Mecca
(622 CE)
Abbasid caliphs sponsor / patronize
literary works, poetry, translations of
Greek/Indian/Roman/Persian works,
support theological debate and
clarification of hadith
Spain becomes melting pot for
architecture, philosophy, poetry
(Merging of Muslim, Jewish,
Germanic, & Christian ideals)
“Golden Age” of Islam – centered at
Baghdad during Abbasid Dynasty as
splendor of caliph’s court mixes with
currents of thought from Middle East,
Mediterranean, Asia
Religious Characteristics (Cultural)
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Economic Characteristics
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Caravan trade via camel thru desert
brought $$ to nomads & trade access to
merchants
Frankincense & myrrh exported;
manufactured goods imported
Umayyad caliphs standardize gold/silver
coins across empire
Trade / new agricultural crops inspired by
urbanization & cultural mix, allowing
merchants to grow rich as middlemen and
pastoral nomads to be involved as caravan
guards or camel suppliers
Bukhara in outlying Iran; Sijilmasa &
Tahert in Berber-held N. Africa become
prosperous trading cities during Buyid
takeover (Sponsor much art/literature,
though utilize local languages over Arab)
Mecca – holy city
Ka’ba – holy shrine (black box)
Muhammad – prophet of Islam
-Visions shared with wife/close friends up until
his death in 632 CE
Quran – holy book documenting Muhammad’s
revelations as the “word of god”
Hadith – collected accounts of Muhammad’s
thoughts and actions
Islam – submission to will of Allah
Muslim – one who submits to will of Allah
Muhammad’s revelations show connections to
Christianity / Judaism, but seen by followers as
“perfected” testament of god’s will (due to less
editing & single viewpoint)
Umma – Muslim religious community
5 Pillars of Faith:
-1 god, his prophet is Muhammad
-Pray 5x per day, facing Mecca
-Fast during Ramadan
-Pay alms to poor
-Make pilgrimage to Mecca 1x in life
Schism of Islam (656 CE – 680 CE)
-Sunnis – those who believe 1st 3 (rightlyguided) caliphs were proper imams (leaders)
-Shi’ites – those who believe Ali &
descendants were rightful imams
-Kharijites -jilted followers of Ali (minor sect)
Social Characteristics
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Tribal nomadic kinships important early
Small group of Arab warrior-class maintains
social/economic dominance over conquered,
non-Arab, non-Muslim pop. during Umayyad
Conversion of conquered peoples accelerates
during Abbasid as Arab elite loosens its rigid
ties to kinship and ethnic identity
Ulama – religious scholars responsible for
maintaining unity in empire-wide umma
despite political breakdown/provincial breakup
during Abbasid decline
Rural women worked fields; Urban women
secluded & veiled, barred from public life;
Slave women could dance, sing, prostitute
Women had inheritance, divorce, birth control,
court testimony, pilgrimage rights
Men allowed 4 wives/unlimited concubines
Slavery allowed, but not for fellow monotheists
(Christians/Jews/Zoroastrians) except in war
Sufi Brotherhoods - religious collectives/clubs
providing a social outlet for urban Muslim men
Name:_______________________________
Civilization / Era:
ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
Date:_______________________________
Political Characteristics (cont.)

Time Period:
632 AD – 1258 AD

Related Key Concepts
3.1. Expansion & Intensification of Communication

and Exchange Networks
3.2. Continuity & Innovation of State Forms and
their Interactions


3.3 Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its
Consequences

Most Important Thing to Remember:
2 competing sects
2 caliphates
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
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850 – 1050 CE – Political fragmentation era
(Provinces break away, tax base lost at
Baghdad, slow travel/communication, taxes and
administration inefficient for expansive empire)
Turkic Mamluk slaves trained as standing army
for caliphs; failure to pay them sees them
depose caliphs and choose their own while
draining funds to build new temporary capital
at Samarra from 835 CE – 892 CE.
Fatimid Dynasty - 909 CE – 969 CE
-Capital at Cairo. Takes over all N. Africa,
then Egypt. Prosperous sub-Saharan trade with
Ghana for gold, spreads Islam there.
945 CE – Buyid Shi’ites – Takeover of
caliphate; they maintain it as puppet regime.
Al-Andalus 740 CE – 1492 CE – Umayyad
controlled Spain. Becomes major melting pot.
1030’s CE – Seljuk Turks gain power, ruling at
Baghdad. Win Battle of Manzikert vs.
Byzantines (1071 CE) taking all of Anatolia.
-Seljuks feud over claims to who is sultan
(caliph), thus for years ignoring irrigation, city
maintenance, etc.
-Major pop. decline, cities shrink, drying up of
Mesopotamia region
The Crusades - 1099 CE – 1187 CE
-Muslims lose Jerusalem to Christian knights,
then regain it back under Saladin, who also
ends Fatimid Dynasty by uniting Egypt & Syria
Saladin’s descendants split land-holdings, but
surrender power to Turkic Mamluk troops, who
rule at Cairo and fight off Mongols until 1517
CE.
1258 CE - Mongol invasion from East leads to
sacking of Baghdad and end of Abbasid
Caliphate.
Shari’a – Post-Quran Islamic law that contains
6 Sunni & 4 Shi’ite holy books that offer
thousands of anecdotes on ritual, customs,
beliefs all purported to be Muhammad’s views
(Widely consistent from Morocco to India)