Islam “learning station” Notes

Draw/write this timeline at the start of your day’s notes. Try to fill in the blanks based on what we already know.

Islam

• In 622, Islam arose in the Middle East and quickly filled the void of power left from the weakened Persian (Sassanid) and Byzantine Empires.

• Emerging from the Arabian Peninsula by an Arabic religious and military leader, the Prophet Muhammad began an Islamic expansion from the Middle East, into Mesopotamia, beyond Syria and across northern Africa into the Iberian peninsula

• In the beginning of the emergence of Islam, the sparsely populated Arabic Peninsula was home to many divided tribes whose inhabitance may have shared a common language and culture but was also loyal to their local tribes and polytheistic deities.

• These nomadic people would sometimes participate in caravan trading as well as in some cases resort to raiding the camel caravans that traded goods across the desert.

• As the center for trade between Constantinople and the Far East, the Arabian Peninsula was also a crossroads for the exchange of many ideas and customs.

• Arabians would have been familiar with Jewish and Christian religion, teachings, and traditions.

• Despite being polytheistic, Arabians shared a common belief in a superior God they called Allah, who was their version of the God associated as the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God, Yahweh.

The Prophet Muhammad

• Muhammad was a merchant of the Quraysh tribe originally from the town of Mecca. The town was known as center for merchants in the spice trade.

• Outside of Mecca in a cave, Muhammad began hearing voices that he associated came from the Angel Gabriel.

• Muhammad affirmed that their God, Allah was also the one true God known as Jehovah or Yahweh in the Judeo – Christian tradition.

• For the rest of his life, Muhammad became a spiritual leader, a prophet and a general whose victories grew as well as his converts to the new religion.

• Under his guidance, the Arabian Peninsula began to unite all tribes under the religion of Islam. Under Muhammad’s guidance, the victories of his army contributed to the wealth of his Arabic warriors, creating a new aristocratic class that did not exist before in Arabic culture.

• Muhammad established the custom that required the wealthy to donate to the communities poor.

• As Muhammad conquered new territory, he also established the tradition of allowing the conquered people to keep their local customs, traditions, religions, and even their local authoritarian leaders without having to convert to Islam as long as the non-believers or non-converts would pay a tax.

• Muhammad did not leave any instructions on how to transition power through succession by Islamic Law, for this reason the problem of succession would create infighting and civil war in the coming decades.

• The problem of succession also enabled the emergence of two factions groups, the Shia and Sunni; these factions are also divided in terms of theology, and in governance.

Islam Expands• Bakr became the caliph succeeding Muhammad in 632.

Bakr made the town of Media the center of his rule. Under Bakr’s rule, the Muslims continued to be victorious as they conquered Palestine.

• In 634, his Islamic army invaded and conquered Palestine. The successor of Bakr, Umar who laid siege to Damascus until it fell in 635. With each acquisition, the Muslims became increasingly wealthy and added new non-Arabian converts who joined Islam.

• Even with the new converts increasing the number of Islam worshippers, the Muslims continued the custom of religious toleration of those they conquered if they paid a tax.

• In 638, under the direction of the caliph Umar, the Muslims invaded Egypt. Despite an unsuccessful attempt by the Byzantine army to block the Muslims, Umar’s army was victorious in conquering all of Egypt by 646.

• Egypt proved to be another source of great wealth for the Muslims. After the success of conquering Egypt, Umar dedicated all his military strength in conquering the elusive and difficult Persia. After the conquest of Persia, the Islamic empire began to amass a large amount of wealth and as a result, the wealthy aristocratic class became more powerful and influential. However, after many years of conquest and conversion, the aristocratic power had begun to shift from Arabian decedents to non-Arabian decedents.

• Many of the new non-Arabian aristocrats and nobles began to align themselves with different Arabian clans and sects including the Shia and the Sunni. Also, divisions among the Muslims arose between those who perused a more luxurious life and those who felt that increased wealth power had led its leaders away from the true teachings of Islam that resulted in moral decay and corruption, these divisions led to many years of infighting and civil war.

Umayyad Caliphate• After many years of civil war, Mu’awiyah became the caliph and moved

his center of rule to Damascus in 677; his reign became known as the Umayyad Caliphate. By moving his caliphate to Damascus he changed the influence of Islam rule from Arabia to Syria, a non- Arabian province. From Syria, Mu’awiyah’s power became more centralized and bureaucratic because he did not have to depend of traditional Arabic support nor on and aristocratic class for his power. Instead, he depended on the cosmopolitan mix of Islamic and non-Islamic subjects who in turn, depended him maintaining order and peace.

• With his centralized power and reorganized, mixed, Islamic military Mu’awiyah continued with Islamic expansion. In 664 he expanded Islamic rule beyond Egypt and across northern Africa. He also tried to lay siege of the imperial city of Constantinople but was unsuccessful. Following the death of Mu’awiyah, more years of civil war followed as old factions and divisions continued to compete for power.

• From the Damascus the successive Umayyad Caliphate continued to expand Islam. By 711, Islam reached southern Spain and extended into Mesopotamia. Later, the Umayyad caliph, Umar II established equal rights under the law to both Arab and non-Arab Muslims.

• Many Arab soldiers settled in the frontiers and conquered lands into civil life while many non-Arab Muslims adopted Arab language and customs. Umar suspended expansion and instead sought peace and reconciliation among the different Islamic factions as well as non-Islamic enemies.

• It was not long before many Muslims desired to return to expanding the Islamic empire and felt that a new family of caliphs may help Islam turn back to its traditional roots as well as return to imperial expansion for the acquisition of wealth.

Abbasid Caliphate and The Golden Age • The family of Abbas became the new Caliphate and they quickly

moved their capital of Islam to Baghdad in order to take an economic advantage of the trade route that expended form India, up the Tigris River and carried over to the Mediterranean Sea.

• During this period, trade goods from China and the Christian lands exchanged hands while traders and merchants exchanged ideas, language, and culture. The Tigris River was crowded with ships from the east and west and caravans full of spices and goods that crossed the desert began to increase in numbers as the Abba Caliphate’s organized and well-financed military insured safety of commerce. During this period of commerce and trade Islam entered it Golden Age.

• Ideas from China such as the bureaucratic philosophy of Confucius, sailor’s stories of faraway lands and maps, inventions and discoveries fueled the Islamic imagination that inspire its greatest works of art, science and literature of the time.

Slave Trade• The practice of trading and keeping slaves for the use of labor

and even military activities has been a long tradition in human civilization, even more so in the ancient civilizations.

• The Islamic civilization was no different in engaging in the use and trade of slaves. Islamic Law, outlined by the Koran, forbids the trade and the enslavement of freemen and most importantly, other Muslims. However, Muslims were allowed to trade and purchase slaves whom foreigners already enslaved or who were born into slavery by slave parents.

• As the Islamic Empire expanded and factions grew, different interpretations of the law resulted in some Islamic communities enslaving non-believers who could not maintain their customary tax.

• By the time of the rise of the Islam Empire, slaves from specific areas were highly praised and valued for their specialties known throughout the slave trade market.

• Russian men were known for their warrior qualities, good for fighting, Russian women were valued for their beauty and African and Southern Europeans were valued for hard labor in the fields and in the mines. As Islam expanded into Africa they expanded on an already exiting slave trade business but helped expose the Africa slaves into the European slave market.

• As a result when Europeans were no longer used for slaves, the African Market continued to expand and grow. Later, after the discovery of the New World, Europe would continue to specifically participate in the African Slave market as the primary source for slaves.

Islamic Empire (Abbasid) Collapses • Despite its golden age, the Islamic empire became subject to the same

pressures of maintaining a huge empire that plagued both the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. The Islamic empire became too big to maintain from one central location.

• The further provinces form Bagdad became increasingly independent of Abbasid’s rule. In an attempt to maintain control the Abba Caliphate devoted huge sums of money toward its military and eventually resorted to an enslaved military system of forced recruiting. The Caliphate rulers increasingly surrounded themselves with luxury as they tried to ignore the crumbling society around them.

• Throughout the Empire rebellion by both traditional Muslims and other factions increased the strain of an already collapsing empire. By the 900s the Islamic empire and broken into different groups of independent Islamic groups, Christians began retaking Spain and the Turks began invading from the north, although they converted to Islam, they became another Islamic group among many that remained in land that once was controlled by a central imperial ruler known as a caliph.

• World History Social Studies Unit: 04B Lesson: 03

• ©2012, TESCCC 08/01/12 Page 1 of 7

• Learning Station Cards Islam • In 622, Islam arose in the Middle East and quickly filled the void of power left from the weakened

Persian (Sassanid) and Byzantine Empires. Emerging from the Arabian Peninsula by an Arabic religious and military leader, the Prophet Muhammad began an Islamic expansion from the Middle East, into Mesopotamia, beyond Syria and across northern Africa into the Iberian Peninsula. In the beginning of the emergence of Islam, the sparsely populated Arabic Peninsula was home to many divided tribes whose inhabitance may have shared a common language and culture but was also loyal to their local tribes and polytheistic deities. These nomadic people would sometimes participate in caravan trading as well as in some cases resort to raiding the camel caravans that traded goods across the desert.

• As the center for trade between Constantinople and the Far East, the Arabian Peninsula was also a crossroads for the exchange of many ideas and customs. Arabians would have been familiar with Jewish and Christian religion, teachings, and traditions. Despite being polytheistic, Arabians shared a common belief in a superior God they called Allah, who was their version of the God associated as the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God, Yahweh.