The Expansive Realm of Islam

Mr. Skommesa – AP World History

Questions to Consider

1. What was the role of Dar al-Islam as a unifying cultural and economic force in Eurasia and Africa?

2. Describe Islamic political structures, especially the caliphate.

3. What are the enduring contributions of early Islamic civilization?

Muhammad and His Message

• Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca

• Orphaned as a child• Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as merchant

• Familiarity with paganism, Christianity and Judaism as practiced in Arabian peninsula

Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation

• Visions c. 610 CE• Archangel Gabriel• Monotheism• Attracts followers to Mecca

The Quran

• Record of revelations received during visions

• Committed to writing c. 650CE (Muhammad dies 632)

• Tradition of Muhammad’s life: hadith

Conflict at Mecca

• Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings offensive to polytheistic pagans

• Economic threat to existing religious industry

• Denunciation of greed affront to local aristocracy

The Hijra

• Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) 622 CE– Year 0 in Muslim calendar

• Organizes followers into communal society (the umma)

• Legal, spiritual code• Commerce, raids on Meccan caravans for sake of umma

The “Seal of the Prophets”

• Islam as culmination and correction of Judaism, Christianity

• Inheritor of both Jewish and Christian texts

Muhammad’s Return to Mecca

• Attack on Mecca, 630• Conversion of Mecca to Islam• Destruction of pagan sites, replaced with mosques– Ka’aba preserved in honor of importance of Mecca

– Approved as pilgrimage site

The Five Pillars of Islam

• No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet

• Daily prayer• Fasting during Ramadan• Charity• Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

Jihad

• “struggle”• Against vice• Against ignorance of Islam• “holy war”

Islamic Law: The Sharia

• Codification of Islamic law• Based on Quran, hadith, logical schools of analysis

• Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human activity

The Caliph

• No clear successor to Muhammad identified

• Abu Bakr chosen to lead as Caliph

• Led war against villagers who abandoned Islam after death of Muhammad

The Expansion of Islam

• Highly successful attacks on Byzantine, Sassanid territories

• Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory

The Shia

• Disagreements over selection of caliphs

• Ali passed over for Abu Bakr• Served as caliph 656-661CE, then assassinated along with most of his followers

• Remaining followers organize separate party called “Shia”– Traditionalists: Sunni

The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750CE)

• From Meccan merchant class• Capital: Damascus, Syria• Associated with Arab military aristocracy

Policy toward Conquered Peoples

• Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes discontent

• Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims

• Head tax (jizya) on non-Muslims• Umayyad luxurious living causes further decline in moral authority

The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258CE)

• Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, non-Arab Muslims

• Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia

• Defeats Umayyad army in 750– Invited Umayyads to banquet, then massacred them

Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty

• Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab)

• Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion

• Dar al-Islam• Growth through military activity of autonomous Islamic forces

Abbasid Administration

• Persian influence• Court at Baghdad• Influence of Islamic scholars (ulama, qadi)

Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809CE)

• High point of Abbasid dynasty• Baghdad center of commerce• Great cultural activity

Abbasid Decline

• Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid

• Provincial governors assert regional independence

• Dissenting sects, heretical movements

• Abbasid caliphs become puppets of Persian nobility

• Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real power behind the throne

Economy of the Early Islamic World

• Spread of food and industrial crops– Trade routes from India to Spain

• Western diet adapts to wide variety• New crops adapted to different growing seasons– Agricultural sciences develop– Cotton, paper industries develop

• Major cities emerge

Formation of a Hemispheric Trading Zone

• Historical precedent of Arabic trade

• Dar al-Islam encompasses silk routes– ice exported from Syria to Egypt in summer, 10th century

• Camel caravans• Maritime trade

Banking and Trade

• Scale of trade causes banks to develop– Sakk (“check”)

• Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar al-Islam promotes trade

• Joint ventures common

12th Century World Map

Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain)

• Muslim Berber conquerors from North Africa take Spain, early 8th c.

• Allied to Umayyads, refused to recognize Abbasid dynasty– Formed own caliphate– Tensions, but interrelationship

Alhambra

Recycled Mosque at Cordoba

Changing Status of Women

• Quran improves status of women– Outlawed female infanticide– Brides, not husbands, claim dowries

• Yet male dominance preserved– Patrilineal descent– Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden

– Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice

Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition

• Islamic values– Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam

– Establishment of madrasas– Importance of the Hajj

• Sufi missionaries– Asceticism, mysticism– Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians

– Wide popularity

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

• Major Sufi thinker from Persia• Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy

Cultural influences on Islam

• Persia– Administration and governance

– literature

• India– Mathematics, science, medicine(“Hindi” numbers)

• Greece– Philosophy, esp. Aristotle

– Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)