the worlds of islam 600-1500. tribal feuds prior to islam: * arab world organized by tribal groups...
TRANSCRIPT
The Worlds of Islam
600-1500
Tribal Feuds
• Prior to Islam:
* Arab world organized by tribal groups
*Bedouin groups
*bitter feuds clashing over access to trade centers and oases
--peninsula part of routes betx Mediterranean and Indian Ocean= economic growth
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Mecca
• Important pilgrimage site – *home of Kaaba= shrine with 100s of tribal
gods– Quraysh tribe dominate city
*become wealthy from taxing pilgrims
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Contact with Byzantine and Sassanid Empires
• Arabian Peninsula next to both these powerful empires
• Variety of people (Christian and Persian) lived on peninsula
• Contact with Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians spread idea of monotheism in the polytheistic world
Messenger Story
• Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570-632)• ------see Ms K’s story board----• The revelations were actually a call to
return to a pure faith in Abraham--purge corruptions and errors
*Jews wrongly saw themselves as chosen people*Christians wrongly turned their prophet into a god*Arabs were wrongly polytheistic and idol
worshippers
Some other Terms/Faith items
• Umma= a new community of the faithful where the poor and vulnerable would be protected
• Jihad*greater Jihad= struggle within one’s self to overcome greed and sinful desires*lesser Jihad= struggle of the sword to protect the community from external threats
Transformation of Arabia
• Membership in the Umma was not based on family but upon faith
• Came into conflict with neighbors
• Most of peninsula unified under the Islamic state
• Sharia= law system = no distinction between religious and civil law
Making an Arab Empire
• Armies rapidly spread out of peninsula= conquered Spain= invaded France= reached Indus River= invaded Egypt= Persian Sassanid Empire fell= And much of Byzantine lands
• Battle of Talas (751)
*defeated the Chinese in central Asia
*Turkic people become a widespread Islamic culture
Economics
• Part of rich trade routes• Productive farmlands--increasing wealth of the new empire• Dhimmis= “people of the book”=
Jews/Christians/Zoroastrians = can keep own religion but required to pay a tax instead of military service= Jizya
• Tolerance allowed these faiths to continue
Conversion
• Many early converts were prisioners of wr or slaves or due to avoiding paying the tax
• Merchants found it helpful to form connections with the community
• Arabic language and culture adopted by converts in Africa/Mesopotamia
• East of Tigris River areas did not adopt Arabic (Turks, Persians, Indus Valley kept traditional languages)
• Persian culture, in fact, spread into the wider Muslim world (architecture, administration, art)
Women and Men
• During the revelations Muhammad created rules that protected women and gave them some control over their property/rt to divorce.
• Even though men were still allowed multiple wives (limit 4) all were to be cared for equally
• Devout women would receive Allah’s blessings just as men would
Restrictions
• After the prophets death Arab empires established increasing restrictions on elite women
• Veiling and sequestering were traditions in the pre-Islamic world
• Segregated in the mosque but not excluded (Some Jewish sects and Christian denominations also segregated women inside the worship space)