Transcript MUSLIM EMPIRES DBQ - Pacific Collegiate School

MUSLIM EMPIRES DBQ
EXAMPLES OF HIGH-QUALITY
THESIS STATEMENTS, POV, ADDT’L
DOC REQUESTS, AND TOPIC
SENTENCES…
GOOD THESIS

“Documents 1, 6, 9 and 10 discuss
the militaristic political climate of the
[Gunpowder] Empires c. 1450-1750,
while documents 1, 5, 7, 8 and 10
describe the tolerant religious
climate of the [Gunpowder] Empires,
and documents 2, 3, 4 and 10 display
the religiously intolerant climate of
the empires.”
GOOD THESIS

“While the overall political and
religious climates of the Muslim
Empires in 1450-1750 were tense,
religious tolerance can be seen in the
Mughal and Ottoman Empires.”
GOOD THESIS

“The political and religious climate of
the Muslim Empires in c. 1450-1750
was very tense…The military was
needed to support the government
and to back up political decisions,
while the religious tension was a
result of the close proximity of
various religious groups.”
GOOD THESIS, AND GOOD
TOPIC SENTENCES

“Documents 7 and 8 portray a tolerant religious
climate throughout the Muslim Empires c. 14501750, while documents 1,2,[3] and 9 show an
intolerant religious climate. Documents 1,4, and
10 show a diverse religious climate. Documents
3, 5, and 7 portray a tense political climate.”
– Topic sentence, paragraph 1:
• Documents 7 and 8 show a tolerant religious climate
throughout the Muslim Empires.
– Topic sentence, paragraph 2:
• Documents 1,2,3 and 9 show an intolerant religious
climate.
– Topic sentence, paragraph 3:
• Documents 1, 4 and 10 show a diverse religious climate.
– Topic sentence, paragraph 4:
• Documents 5 and 6 show a tense political climate.

USING DOCS SPECIFICALLY, IN
ORDER TO SUPPORT THE THESIS
Thesis:
– The Muslim Empires of 1450-1750 had a very diverse
religious climate…

Paragraph 1, topic sentence:
– “Docs 1,2,3,4,5,7,8, and 10 show the diversity of the Muslim
empires’ religious climate.”

Subsequent use of examples from all listed docs:
– Doc 1 shows that there were Jews and Christians in most
major Turkish cities…Doc 2 shows that there was a large
Hindu population in the Mughal empire. Doc 3 shows that
the[re] were Christian missionaries in the Safavid Empire.
Doc 4 shows how the Sikhs interacted with Hindus, Muslims
and Buddhists. Doc 5 shows that there was both of the
major Islamic sects and Hindus in the Mughal empire. Doc 7
shows that there was a lot of discussion and possibly
syncretism among different religions. Doc 8 shows the
interactions between Hindus and Muslims. Doc 10 shows
the varieties of religions in all the empires…”
HOW MIGHT WE FIX THIS
PARAGRAPH??

Documents 1,7, and 8 demonstrate the
tolerant religious climate of the Muslim
Empires.
 “…Document 1…[shows] the Janissaries’
purpose of protecting the local weaker
religions. Document 8 shows how
Jahangir [justifies the protection of] the
Hindus because they are ‘usefully
engaged’ and benefiting the [empire]. The
painting in document 7 shows Akbar’s
tolerance [of] the Jesuits.”
GOOD POV :”How and why is
this document biased?”

“Document 3 is taken from the perspective of a
missionary who traveled to the Safavid Empire in
order to convert others to Christianity. However,
the missionary failed and upon his return to
Spain, brought along with him the point of view
that all those of the Safavid Empire were rude,
inconsiderate, and [disingenuous] peoples who
merely feigned appreciation of the Spanish
missionaries. This perspective is taken, of
course, only because the missionary was
unsuccessful.”
GOOD POV

“Doc 3 shows how the Muslims
didn’t like the Christian missionaries.
However, Father Simon may have
exaggerated the Muslims’ hostility
because he was making excuses for
his mission’s failure.”
GOOD POV

“Document 3, which is about the Safavid empire,
shows the ruler Shah Abbas’s disrespect for
Christian traditions… However, coming from a
group that was a minority in the Safavid Empire,
Father Simon, the author of Document 3 ,
probably felt that the Muslim shah was more
oppressive than he actually was… Because
Father Simon came to the Safavid Empire to
explore missionary work, it is clear that he viewed
Muslims as wrong and thus would have been
more critical of Islamic rule.”
GOOD POV (and outstanding use of ‘bandit’)

“Document 6 describes the Janissaries in a
completely different light. They are corrupt and
are stealing money from the central government.
They are also described as stealing bandits
[whoo hoo!]. Because the author’s POV is
definitely in favor of the central government and
in particular to the treasury department, he is
going to be very critical of the Janissaries,
especially if he suspects that they are
squandering [the money in] in the Ottoman
treasury.”
PROBABLY, OR ALMOST
THERE POV…

“Document 8 also discusses the role of
religion in regard to the political climate of the
Mughal Empire, but is written by one of the
emperors, and thus could be biased when he
describes how his father was so tolerant of
the Hindus.”
– Jahangir may have exaggerated Akbar’s level of
tolerance, because he would have wanted to
positively portray his Muslim family to his Hindu
subjects (especially given the tense religious
climate in the Mughal Empire).
GOOD ADDT’L DOC

“Another document, which would be
helpful in further understanding the
religious climate of the Muslim empires
from 1450-1750, would be an account
written by an indigenous follower of
Judaism (or some religious minority).
This would give us information about how
such minorities adapted to the changes in
religious climate and what their
perspective was on larger religions which
may or may not have oppressed them and
their faith.”
GOOD ADDT’L DOC

“I think it would be helpful to have a document
pertaining to the perspective of the Hindus. All of the
documents were written by people outside of the
empire or a government official but not from the
opinion of a Hindu. Considering that many
documents discuss being tolerant to them, it would
be interesting to hear from the subjects about that
tolerance. A survey asking the Hindus if they
believed they were being treated fairly would be
helpful. That way you could compare the points of
views to decide which is the more accurate.
Considering that the Hindus were the majority in the
Mughal empire, it would be a helpful document to
understand the actual relationship between the
Hindus and the Muslims.
Another one I made up…

An additional document that would be helpful
in better understanding the political and
economic climate of the Muslim empires would
be that of a government official working inside
of the Safavid Empire. Right now, the only
perspective on the Safavid Empire that we have
is that of a disaffected Christian missionary. A
more formal document from someone in the
government could better help us to determine
whether or not the government did in fact
discriminate against religious minorities, thus
creating a hostile religious climate, or if it was
more open minded than the author of document
3 is letting on.