Transcript Unit 3 Regional & Transregional Interactions 20%

UNIT 3
REGIONAL &
TRANSREGIONAL
INTERACTIONS
20%
600ce
To
1450ce
ISLAM
SPREAD OF ISLAM
7 th century: Largest, most expansive, and most
widely influential of the new civilizations
 The Muslims dominate trade, astronomy, mathematics, science,
and philosophy throughout the era.
 “Came closer than any had ever come to uniting all
mankind under its ideals”
 Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, India, West Africa, East Africa, Spain,
SE Europe
 Resistance/Reconstruction to spread of Islam
 Byzantine – 1453 – Ottoman Turks
 China – 589-1279 – Sui, Tang, Song
 India – Hinduism/Caste
ARABIAN PENINSULA
PRE-ISLAM ARABIA
 Peoples were mostly settled (i.e. farmers)
 What about the nomads though?
 Present, not prevalent. Important for their hand in making caravan trade
possible
 Brought Arabs into contact with Byzantine/Sasanid civilizations
 Polytheists: Mecca was a caravan city and cult center (Ka’ba worshipped
by nomads as it enshrined their idols)
PRE-ISLAMIC SILK ROADS: ARABIA NOT
IMPORTANT
BIRTH OF ISLAM
SILK ROADS TRADE IN THE 8 TH CENTURY
MUHAMMAD IN MECCA
 Born in Mecca, orphan, became involved in caravan trade
 610: Revelations of Allah
 Message? There is one god, Allah, and that those who submit to him
(“Islam”) go to heaven, those that don’t, hell
 622: “Hijra” = flee to Medina (so important, marks year 0 on Islamic
Calendar)
 Muhammad chased out of Mecca; forms a community ( umma) in Medina
 Refocus the faith, no longer tied to Judaism/Jerusalem, focus of prayer is
now turned to Mecca
 Muhammad  Abu Bakr
 630: Islamic community took back Mecca; religious/political power is born
 Bakr took over the umma as successor (“Caliph”) to Muhammad
 Reestablished Muslim authority over Arabs; codified Quran
 Question of Succession
 Umayyad Caliphate est. 661 after civil war caused by assassination of 3 rd
Caliph
 Shi’ite  descendants of Ali (1 st cousin/son-in-law); Sunni  most capable
(Umayyad)
-570-632 BCE
-Offshoot of
Judaism +
Christianity
-Originated in ME
-Mainly: ME, N
Africa, S Asia
-1.2 billion
ISLAM
1 .3b today (940 Sunni)
Founded by Muhammad 622CE in Saudi Arabia
Monotheistic – Allah
Codified in the Qur’an
Humans must submit (islam) to the will of God to gain paradise
after death
 Afterlife? Paradise or Hell
 Beliefs:





 Five Pillars of Faith
 Faith, Prayer, Alms, Pilgrimage, Fasting
 No alcohol or pork
Countries with the Largest Muslim
Population
1. Indonesia
183,000,000
6. Iran
62,000,000
2. Pakistan
134,000,000
7. Egypt
59,000,000
3. India
121,000,000
8. Nigeria
53,000,000
4. Bangladesh
114,000,000
9. Algeria
31,000,000
66,000,000
10. Morocco
29,000,000
5. Turkey
* Arabs make up only 20% of the total
Muslim population of the world.
Islam An Abrahamic Religion

Muslims are strict monotheists.

They believe in the JudeoChristian God, which they call
Allah.

Muslims believe that the Torah
and the Bible, like the Qur’an,
is the word of God.
”Peoples of the Book”
THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM
The Prophet: His Life and Teaching
Visited by Angel Gabriel in 610 C.E. at
age forty; visits continued for twenty
years
 This is how the truth is transmitted
After Muhammad’s death, his words
were memorized and written down as
the Quran
Quran regarded as absolute,
uncorrupted word of God
THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM
The Five Pillars of Islam
1. The Shahada
The

testimony.
The declaration of faith:
There is no god worthy of
worship except God, and
Muhammad is His
Messenger [or Prophet].
2. The Salat
 The mandatory prayers
performed 5 times a day:
* dawn
* noon
* late afternoon
* sunset
* before going to bed

Wash before praying.

Face Mecca and use a prayer rug.
3. The Zakat
 Almsgiving (charitable
donations).

Muslims believe that all things
belong to God.

Zakat means both “purification”
and “growth.”

About 2.5% of your income.
4. The Sawm
 Fasting during the holy month
of Ramadan.

Considered a method of selfpurification.

No eating or drinking from
sunrise to sunset during
Ramadan.
5. The Hajj
 The pilgrimage to Mecca.

Must be done at least once in a
Muslim’s lifetime.

2-3 million Muslims make the
pilgrimage
every
year.
SUNNI VS. SHIA (SHI’ITES)
 Problem of successor to Muhammad initially
met by election of close associates as caliph
Sunni-Shi’a Division…
Should caliph be from Muhammad’s family [Shi’ites] or
from Ummayid clan of recent caliphs [Sunni] ?
Two Shi’a caliphs were assassinated and war broke out
11 Shi’a imams or caliphs were assassinated in all
Hereditary line of Muhammad’s family ended with the
disappearance of the “twelfth imam”
Office of caliph no longer exists but dispute continues
About 83% of Muslims are Sunni today
-1469-1538CE
-Mainly: India’s
Punjab
Province
-20 million
Hinduism
KARMA +
REINCARNATION
Rejects the Caste System
Islam
MONOTHEISTIC
Equality of Men + Women
God: Creator, sustainer + destroyer
Goal: Salvation through meditation + charity
Rejects: Formal religious rituals
SACRED SONG OF THE SIKHS
‘MAY THE PASSIONS OF LUST, ANGER,
GREED, PRIDE AND ATTACHMENT DEPART
FROM ME.
O LORD, I COME TO SEEK THY SHELTER.
BLESS ME WITH THY GRACE.’
Based on the prayer above, what values are
important to Sikhs?
DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
 Islamic Civilization (so, obviously, Post -Islam Arabia)
 Appealed to nearly everyone!
1. Monotheistic
2. Established legal code (“Shari’a”) based on Quran
3. Based on a community (“umma”)
DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
 Islamic Civilization (so, obviously, Post -Islam Arabia)
1. Largely egalitarian (all Muslims are brothers and sisters and
shared the same moral values)
 Women
 Muslim women were veiled and secluded as they had been previously in the
Byzantine and the Sasanid Empires
 Women could be influential in the family, but only female slaves could have
public role or appear in public before men
 Rights under Shari’a law
 To inherit and own property; To divorce and remarry; To testify in court; To go on pilgrimage
 Homosexuality was not permitted by Islam; however, some rulers/poets advocated
male homosexuality
 Slavery
 Could not enslave ‘People of the Book’ (Ch/J/Z/M) except for POWs
 Slave status not hereditary
2. Non-Muslims taxed more than Muslims ($$$$$)
DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
 Motive for Arab Conquest
1. Islamic Unity
Region was previously divided amongst foreign rulers
2. Bedouin heritage
Culture  conflict (the warrior was a praised occupation)
3. Wealth ($$$$$)
4. Not to spread Islam (so not Jihad (“holy war”))
DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
 Arab forces of conquest
 Organized into regularly paid armies kept in military camps to not
overrun the countryside
 Arab Muslims = minority rulers
 Taxed but did not try to convert non-Muslim societies
 As the Islamic Arabs spread their dominance, they
took on a great many Persian influences
 Islam ruler: “The Persians ruled for a thousand years and did
not need us Arabs even for a day. We have been ruling them
for on or two centuries and cannot do without them for an
hour.”
DOME OF THE ROCK
 In 621 , Muhammad travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem where he
led the people in prayer. Next, he ascended to the 7 Circles of
Heaven where he sees the other prophets (Abraham, John the
Baptist, Moses, Jesus, etc.).
 It is on the site of Muhammad’s ascension that the Dome of the
Rock was constructed in 691 .
 The “Rock” that is housed inside is believed to be the spot of
Muhammad’s ascension. The spot is also one of the holiest sites in
Judaism (who believe it is the spot where Abraham attempted to
sacrifice his son, Isaac).
 Octagonal in design, the Dome of the Rock was designed to compete
with Christian and Jewish buildings in Jerusalem. It was meant to be a
site for pilgrims, not an actual mosque.
UMAYYAD CALIPHATE
 Reigned 661-750
 Overthrown in 750 although one branch of the family kept Spain
 Arab, not Muslim empire
 Byzantine & Sasanid
 Both wealthy, vast empires, but had fought each other the past 300
years and Sasanids just hit by a plague
 Administered their territory through the est. systems already in place
 Gradually brought in Muslim bureaucrats and Arabic language
ABBASID CALIPHATE
Reigned from 750-1258
 Family of Abbas, uncle of Muhammad (Shi’a), took
power in fall of Umayyad Caliphate
Provided new religious leadership
 Literature and learning, espec. Secular Arab poetry,
thrived
 Baghdad  center of culture
 Conversion of non-Muslims accelerated in 9 th century
Islamic “Golden Age”
“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the
blood of a martyr”
ABBASID CALIPHATE
 Decline occurred between second half of 9 th century
to the 13 th century. Why?
1. Caliphs sucked at their job
 Caliphs in Baghdad grew to rely on Turkish slave troops
(“mamluks”), whom at one point when they were not paid properly
(they were busy building lavish new capitals in the west), overthrew
the Caliph and named a new one
 Succession from caliph to caliph was constantly challenged
 Irrigation projects fell into disrepair  famines, floods, violence
2. Revolts
 Peasant (largely Shi’a) revolts
 Increased treasury debt (see: crappy Caliphs) as peasants bore financial burden
 Local revolts carved the Abbasid Caliphate into smaller Muslim
states
 Did not pay taxes or homage
ABBASID CALIPHATE
Decline occurred between second half of 9 th
century to the 13 th century. Why?
1. Difficulty of transportation and communication was
critical fault in maintaining such a vast territory
 Impossible to maintain control over their vast territory
2. Socially
 Slavery increased
 Women’s rights eroded
 As a result…
 Divisions within the empire opened the way for initial Crusade
victories
ABBASID CALIPHATE
 Failure from without
 The Crusades
 Successful in 1096, 1099 in
retaking Holy Land; control M/E
for 200 yrs
 Saladin unites Muslims, drives
Europeans out in 1291
 Significance
 Unified Muslims; Europeans desire for
trade increased; also brought back
swords, math, chess, rugs, coffee
 Turkish invasion in 1250; Mongol
invasions in 13 th century
 Not all is lost…
 “Ulama,” or religious scholars,
kept a strong sense of religious
identity for Muslims throughout
the political changes
ABBASID CALIPHATE
 AND, a re-centering of Islam
 As if they needed more…
Madrasas (religious colleges)
and Sufi brotherhoods became
two new sources of religious
authority
 Sufi brotherhoods
 Mystic fraternities seeking union
with God, often through poetry
ABBASID CALIPHATE
 Recentering of Islam
 As if they needed more…
Madrasas (religious colleges)
and Sufi brotherhoods became
two new sources of religious
authority
 Sufi brotherhoods
 Mystic fraternities seeking union
with God, often through poetry
THE RISE OF ISLAM