Transcript The Expansive Realm of Islam

The Expansive Realm of Islam
Chapter 13
I: A Prophet and His World
• Arabian Peninsula:
– harsh environment,
– Bedouins (nomadic herders, clan-based, polytheistic),
– long-distance trade (sea -> camel caravan)
• Link between India/China and Persia/Byzantine
• Mecca was important stopover for caravans
I: Muhammad and His Message
• Born 570 in Mecca to a merchant family
– Married Khadija
– Influenced by Judaism and Christianity
• 610: spiritual experience (message from God via
Gabriel)
– = Allah would reward the righteous and punish the
wicked
• By 620: built up a following in Mecca
• 650: Followers wrote texts of teachings -> Quran =
authority on Islamic doctrine and social organization
I: Muhammad’s Migration to Medina
• Popularity -> conflict with non-Muslim elites over
monotheism and ideas about greed
– Also, threat to shrine owners
• 622: fled to Medina (= the hijra – beginning of
Muslim calendar)
• Provided legal and social codes, economic aid,
political leadership for the Umma
• Accepted earlier prophets, texts, and God of Jews
and Christians
I: The Establishment of Islam in Arabia
• 630: conquered Mecca, replacing shrines with
mosques (except Ka’ba)
• 632: pilgrimage to Ka’Ba (the Hajj); had
conquered most of Arabia
I: The Five Pillars of Islam
• Foundations (beliefs shared by all Muslims):
– One god (Allah) and prophet (Muhammad)
– Daily prayer facing Mecca
– Fasting during Ramadan
– Alms to the weak and poor
– Hajj to Mecca
I: Jihad and Sharia
• Jihad: struggle (against vice/evil, against
unbelief/ignorance, against unbelievers who
threaten Islam)
– Considered an obligation by some
• Sharia: Islamic law inspired by the Quran and
Muhammad’s teachings
– Covers more than religion: marriage, business,
political authority, family life, etc.
II: The Expansion of Islam
• Umma disagreed over who should take over after
Muhammad’s death
• Abu Bakr became caliph (=deputy): political,
judicial, military, and religious leader
• Effective military expansion: Byzantine and
Sasanid lands, Northern Africa, Iberian peninsula > huge empire
II: The Expansion of Islam (cont.)
• Problem: disagreement over succession -> schism
in Islam
– Shia sect: believed Ali and descendants should serve
as caliph
– Sunni: caliphs selected by powerful Arab clans
II: The Umayyid Dynasty
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661-750 CE: Prominent Meccan merchant clan
Created alliances, built power -> stability
Capital = Damascus (Syria) due to central location
Tightly centralized rule, favor to fellow Arabs, esp.
aristocrats
– -> unhappy conquered ethnic/religious groups (forced
to pay jizya to practice their religions)
– Plus, Muslims (esp. Shia) disliked lavish living of
Umayyid
II: The Abbasid Dynasty
• -> 740: rebellion in Persia led by Abu-Abbas
• 750: defeated Umayyids in battle, founding a new
dynasty (ruled until 1258)
• Differences: more cosmopolitan (non-Arabs
gained wealth and power), not expansionistic
(but, did fight Byz, C. Asian nomads, and Tang)
II: The Abbasid Dynasty (cont.)
• Difficult to rule due to size, diversity, and lack of
precedent -> adopted Mesopotamian and Persian
techniques (policy, capital cities, regional governors
and bureaucracy)
– Capital = Baghdad
– Ulama (scholars) set moral standards and qadis (judges)
resolved disputes in local communities -> insured
observance of Islamic values
– Standing army
– Bureaucracy for taxation, finance, coinage, postal system,
Persian road system
II: Abbasid Decline
• Internal problems: succession disputes, governors
began acting independently, uprisings/revolts
• 945: puppet rulers (by Persian nobles)
• Seljuk Turks migrated in, converted, allied with
Abbasids
• By mid 1000s, Turks controlled Abbasid empire
III: Economy and Society of the Early
Islamic World
• Economy: agriculture (rural) and manufacturing
and trade (urban)
• Empire -> zone of trade, exchange, and
communication from India to Iberia
III: New Crops, Agricultural
Experimentation, and Urban Growth
• Introduced new crops and techniques into
different regions (esp. from India – sugarcane,
rice, citrus, bananas, cotton, etc.)
• -> strengthened economy, varied diet, more food
availability -> urban development
• Dar al-Islam cities flourished (markets,
manufacturing [textiles, pottery, paper])
• Islamic society valued merchants
III: The Formation of a Hemispheric
Trading Zone
• Overland trade: revived and maintained Silk Roads
– Expanded use of camel caravans and caravanserai
• Maritime trade: using compass (China), lateen sail
(SE Asia/India), and astrolabe (Greeks), traveled
throughout Indian Ocean Basin
• Banks: loans, brokered investments,
exchanged currency, credit
• Better transportation + expanded banking + refined
business organization = flourishing long distance
trade (Sahara – salt for gold and slaves, E. Africa slaves and skins, Russia – furs, honey, amber, slaves)
III: Al-Andalus
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= Islamic Spain, conquered by Berbers in 700s
Continued to be governed by Umayyids (caliphs)
Participated in Islamic economy
Crops -> urban growth and businesses
Elaborate capital at Cordoba (lighted roads, free
schools, huge mosque, big library)
III: The Changing Status of Women
• Patriarchal, but women had some rights (property
inheritance, divorce, business)
• Quran helped: outlawed infanticide, dowries,
equality of all before Allah
• But, reinforced male domination: patrilineal, tight
control over women’s lives, polygyny, veiling (from
Byz. and Sasanids = sign of modesty), chaperones
• Women’s rights decreased with contact with
patriarchal Mesopotamian, Persian, and E. Med.
societies
IV: Islamic Values and Cultural
Exchanges
• Focus on Arabic language and tradition
• Taught conquered peoples Islamic teachings, but
allowed pre-Islamic practices
• Muslim intellectuals drew from Persian, Indian,
and Greek culture
IV: The Formation of an Islamic
Cultural Tradition
• Sharia law unified empire
• Ulama (in mosque schools) and qadis (in courts
and public life) bridged differences and spread
Islamic values
– Madrasas – institutes of higher learning; supported by
rulers to recruit literate and learned students to
admin. positions
IV: Sufis
• Islamic mystics and missionaries
• Did not follow formal religious teachings; sought
deeper spiritual awareness
– Pious, ascetic
– Gave sermons, passionate singing, spiritual dancing to
achieve heightened state of emotion
• Distrusted by Islamic theologians, but spread
Islam (esp. in Persia and India)
IV: The Hajj
• = pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in Mecca
• Encouraged by Abbasids to increase cultural unity
(built inns, policed roads, gifts to shrines)
IV: Islam and the Cultural Traditions of
Persia, India, and Greece
• Learned about other cultures in several ways:
– 1. Abbasid dynasty supported acquisition of knowledge
(foreign scholars)
– 2. sponsored translation of literary and scientific works
(from Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit)
– 3. merchants, missionaries, and travelers compiled
geographic information (maps, atlases, charts, general
descriptions)
• Absorbed, combined with “others’ thought”, built
upon them -> flowering of intellect and scholarship
IV: Persian Influences
• Political: Administrative techniques, ideas of
kingship (wise and benevolent, but absolute)
• Cultural: literary – used Persian language in lit.,
poetry, history
– Esp. Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, and The Arabian
Nights
IV: Indian Influences
• Math: numerals (allowed development of
algebra, geometry, trig.)
• Science: astronomical calculations
• Medicine: treatments for specific illnesses,
antidotes for poison
IV: Greek Influences
• Philosophy: translations of Plato and Aristotle
– Esp. Ibn Rushd: tried to harmonize Islamic teachings
with Aristotle; known in W. Europe as Averroes
(influences scholasticism)
– After 1200s, more emphasis on pure Islamic phil.
• Math (reasoning), science (astronomy), and
medicine (anatomy and physiology)