AKS 34The Islamic World

Chapter 10Pages 263-279

Origins of Islam

• Bedouins– Arab nomads– Ideals of courage, loyalty to family, and warrior

skills became an important part of the Islamic way of life

Origins of Islam

• Muhammad’s Early Life– Orphaned at age 6– Raised by his grandfather and uncle– Received very little schooling– Began working in caravan trade as a young man

• Became the trader and business manager for Khadijah, whom he later married

Origins of Islam

• Muhammad’s Revelations– Muhammad was meditating in a cave outside

Mecca when he heard a voice who told Muhammad he was a messenger of Allah

• He believed the voice was that of the angel Gabriel

– He came to believe that he was the last of the prophets and began to teach that Allah was the one and only God and all others must be abandoned

• Islam = “submission to the will of Allah”• Muslim = “one who has submitted”

Origins of Islam

• Ideas Rejected in Mecca– Meccans feared that the

traditional Arab gods would be neglected and Mecca would no longer be a center for pilgrims

• Mecca had become a religious destination because that was where the Ka’aba was located

– The Ka’aba was associated with Abraham, a Hebrew prophet and believer in one God

– Over the years, they had introduced the worship of many gods and spirits – it contained over 360 idols

Origins of Islam• The Hijrah

– Muhammad decided to leave Mecca in 622 after some of his followers were attacked

– He moved to Yathrib (later called Medina), 200 miles north of Mecca

• This migration is known as the Hijrah, or “flight”

– Turning Point because:• Attracted many devoted followers• Became a popular religious leader• Became a political leader who united

Arabs, Muslims, & Jews• Became a military leader in the

hostilities between Mecca and Medina

Origins of Islam

• Muhammad’s Return to Mecca– 630: Muhammad & 10,000 of his followers

marched to Mecca• Mecca’s leaders surrendered without a fight• Muhammad destroyed the idols in the Ka’aba and

had the call to prayer made from its roof• Most Meccans pledged their loyalty to Muhammad

and converted to Islam

– Mecca became a base from which to work toward unifying the Arabian Peninsula under Islam

Basic Tenants of Islam

• There is only one god, Allah• Each person is responsible for his or her

own actions

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Five Pillars of Islam– Faith– Prayer– Alms– Fasting– Pilgrimage

• Muslims do not separate their personal life from their religious life. Carrying out the Five Pillars of Islam and other customs ensures that Muslims live their religion while serving in their communities

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Faith– To become a Muslim, a person has to testify to

the following statement of faith: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” This simple statement is heard again and again in Islamic rituals and in Muslim daily life

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Prayer– Five times a day,

Muslims face toward Mecca to pray. They may assemble at a mosque (Islamic house of worship) or wherever they find themselves

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Alms– Muhammad taught that all

Muslims have a responsibility to support the less fortunate. Muslims meet that social responsibility by giving alms, or money for the poor, through a special religious tax

Basic Tenants of Islam• Fasting

– During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast between dawn and sunset. A simple meal is eaten at the end of the day. Fasting serves to remind Muslims that their spiritual needs are greater than their physical needs

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Pilgrimage– All Muslims who are physically and financially

able perform the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime. Pilgrims wear identical garments so that all stand as equals before Allah

• Hajj to Mecca encouraged trade and promoted faith throughout the Islamic Empire

Basic Tenants of Islam

• Sources of Authority– Original source of authority is Allah– Islam has a scholar class called the ulama– The Qur’an is the holy book of Muslims– The best model for proper living is the Sunna,

or Muhammad’s example– Guidance of Sunna and Qur’an was assembled

into a body of law called shari’a• System of law regulates the family life, moral conduct,

and business & community life of Muslims

Review Time Write the Question and the Answer.

Turn in when you are done.

1. What event in the life of Muhammad signaled the beginning of Islam?

2. Why was Mecca an important city in Western Arabia?

3. Explain the Five Pillars of Islam.4. Why did Muslims consider Christians and Jews

as “people of the book”?5. In what ways are the teachings of the Muslims

similar to those of Christians and Jews?

Islamic Empire Expands

• Muhammad’s Death– Died in 632– Abu-Bakr, a loyal friend,

became the first caliph, or “successor”

• Spread Islam by waging jihadagainst nonbelievers

– Jihad has two meanings:» Means “striving” and refers to

inner struggle against evil» Means “holy war” against

those who do not believe

Islamic Empire Expands

• The “Rightly Guided” Caliphs– Used the Qur’an and Muhammad’s actions as

guides to their leadership– Mobilized highly disciplined armies that

conquered Arabia, parts of the Byzantine Empire, and parts of the Sassanid Empire

Islamic Empire Expands

• Reasons Why Expansion Was Successful:– Muslims were willing to fight to

extend and defend Islam– Armies were well disciplined and

expertly commanded– Byzantine and Sassanid

empires were weak – People who had suffered from

religious persecution welcomed the more tolerant invaders

From 632 to 750, highly mobile

troops mounted on camels were

successful in conquering lands in the

name of Allah

Islamic Empire Expands• Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was

assassinated– This ended the elective system of choosing a caliph

• The Umayyads– Moved the Muslim capital to Damascus– Abandoned the simple life of previous caliphs– Surrounded themselves with wealth and ceremony– Collapsed due to religious & political opposition

Islamic Empire Expands

• The Abbasids– Took power because they were the most powerful of the rebel groups that

opposed the Umayyads– Moved the capital to a newly created city, Baghdad– Developed strong bureaucracy to conduct the affairs of the huge empire– Created a system of taxation– Established strong trade network– Failed to keep complete political control over their immense empire, and so

they eventually fell

Muslim Trade Network

• Trade flourished during the reign of the Abbasids• Two major sea-trading networks:

– Mediterranean Sea– Indian Ocean

• Land networks:– Silk Roads– Arabian Peninsula

Muslim Trade Network• Trade Encouraged By:

– Muslim money changers who set up banks in cities throughout the empire

– Banks offered sakks, or credit, to merchants that could be exchanged for cash throughout the empire

• In Europe, sakk was pronounced “check”, so using checks dates back to the Muslim Empire

• Silk Roads & Arabian Peninsula:– Connected Muslims world to China, India, Europe, and

Africa– Arabian Peninsula

• Connected Indian Ocean trade routes to Mediterranean Sea– Muslim merchants needed only to speak Arabic (unifying

force of Islamic Empire) and the Abbasid dinar as a currency to travel

• No one person traveled the entire length of the Silk Road –middlemen would buy goods in one region and sell them in another

The Conflict

• 656– Uthman, the third caliph, was murdered

• There was disagreement over who should succeed Muhammad

– Ali was the natural choice as a successor, but his right to rule was challenged by Muawiya, a governor of Syria

• Ali was assassinated

– Umayyad family filled the power vacuum

The Split

• Majority of Muslims accepted Umayyad rule in the interest of peace – they became Sunni, meaning followers of Muhammad’s example

• Some continued to resist – they became Shi’a– The Shi’a said that the caliph needed to be a

descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Shi’a means “party” of Ali.

• Another group, the Sufi, rejected the luxurious lifestyle of the Umayyads and pursued a life of poverty and devotion to a spiritual path.

Muslim Cities• Cities symbolized the strength of the

caliphate. • Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid

empire. – Baghdad’s city plan included circular design and

protective walls

Social Classes

• Four Social Classes:– The upper class was Muslims by birth– The second class included converts to Islam– The third class included Christians, Jews, and

Zoroastrians– The lowest class was made up of slaves

**These social classes do not exist anymore

Role of Women

• According to the Qur’an, men and women are equalas believers

• Muslim women were expected to submit to men

• Muslim women were expected to be veiled when out in public

Muslim Literature

• The Qur’an is the standard for all Arabic literature and poetry

• Literary tastes also included poems about nature and the pleasures of life and love

• Bedouin poets composed poems on bravery, love, and generosity.

Muslim Art

• Calligraphy– The art of beautiful handwriting– Allowed artists who could not portray living

beings to express themselves

Muslim Architecture

• Lots of cultural blending• Mix between Muslim and Byzantine ideas,

some Roman ideas mixed in there• Mostly seen in mosques

Muslim Medicine

• al-Razi– Considered greatest

physician of Muslim world by Europeans

– Wrote an encyclopedia and wrote the Treatise on Smallpox and Measles

• Ibn Sina– Wrote Canon of Medicine,

a standard medical textbook used in Europe until the 17th century

Muslim Math and Science

• New Ideas:– Reliance on scientific observation & experimentation– Ability to find mathematical solutions to old problems

• Science– Muslim scientists preferred to solve problems by

conducting experiments in laboratory settings

• Math– Al-Khwarizmi

• Mathematician who wrote a textbook explaining “the art of bringing together unknowns to match a known quantity”

• This was called al-jabr – today called algebra

Muslim Geography

• Ibn Battuta– Traveler and historian– Visited most of the countries

in the Islamic world, including cities like Timbuktu and other cities in Mali

– He learned he could travel without fear of crime and praised people for their study of the Qur’an, but criticized them for not strictly practicing Islam’s moral code

Muslim Philosophy

• Scholars translated works of Greek philosophers into Arabic

• Ibn Rushd– Tried to blend Greek views with those of Islam

Links Between Religions• To Muslims, Allah is the same God

worshiped in Christianity & Judaism– Muslims view Jesus as a prophet, not the Son

of God

• Qur’an is the word of Allah as revealed to Muhammad in the same way the Torah and Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers– Believe Qur’an perfects earlier revelations, it is

the final book, and Muhammad is the final prophet

Links Between Religions

• All three believe in heaven, hell, and a day of judgment – Jews do not place as much emphasis on hell

• All trace their ancestry to Abraham• Muslims refer to Christians and Jews as “people

of the book”• Shari’a law requires Muslim leaders to extend

religious tolerance to Christians & Jews• Ten Commandments can be found in Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam as a code for behavior