Transcript Hist 100 World Civilization I Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer Upper Iowa University.

Hist 100
World Civilization I
Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer
Upper Iowa University
Lecture 9
Significance of Islam
 Islam: the third of the great
monotheistic religions in the world
 Originated on the Arabian
peninsula in the 7th century CE
 With 100 years of its founding, it
spread with Arab conquerors as far
west as Spain and as east as India
 Today the religion has about 1
billion adherents, second only to
Christianity
 Estimates of Muslims in the U.S.
range from 1.1 million to 6.7 million
 Islam is a controversial religion on
the worldwide scene because of
the increasing militancy of some
Muslims in recent years
Geographical distribution of the
world’s major Muslim
population concentrations
Lecture 9
Islam: The Arabs
 The population group in which Islam
originated
The term originally referred only to
people of the Arabian peninsula
 After Arab conquests, their language
and culture spread with Islam and
other peoples assumed an Arab
identity

 Arabia in the 7th century CE
Most of the population settled
 Either in irrigated farmland in the
southwestern mountain valleys or
in trading towns around oases
 Also Bedouin herders who wandered
the desert interior
 Their numbers were small, but
they were important militarily
because of their toughness,
warrior traditions, and ability to
control trade routes and lines of
communications
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Lecture 9
Islam: Muhammad (1)
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Founding prophet of Islam
Muhammad came from a lesser branch of
Mecca’s leading trading clan
 He was a merchant trader until a
marriage to a wealthy widow gained
him more leisure for religious
contemplation
Had a religious vision around age 40 in
which the Archangel Gabriel commanded
him to preach revelations God would send
him
 His followers initially limited to his
family and friends
 His preaching met resistance from
Mecca’s merchant and religious
community
 Leaders feared his teachings
threatened Mecca as a pilgrimage
center for the Kaaba
16th century depiction of
Muhammad at the Kaaba
Lecture 9
Islam: Muhammad (2)
 Persecution in Mecca forced
Muhammad and his followers to flee
to Medina, 280 miles north
This event is known in Moslem
history as the “Hegira”
 The Muslim calendar is dated from
the year the Hegira commenced

 The Hegira was the turning point for
early Islam, for Muhammad found in
Medina willing followers

Eventually he became Medina’s
spiritual and civil leader
 Eight years after fleeing Mecca, he
returned with a Median army and
conquered his home town
 Islam’s spread continued and before
Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, it had
spread throughout Arabia
Muhammad and his followers
hide in a cave during the Hegira
Lecture 9
Islam: Beliefs of Islam
 Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam
is a monotheistic religion
Muslims believe they worship the
same God as Jews and Christians
 Muhammad believed he was
completing the work of previous
prophets such as Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus

 The essence of Islam is submission
to God

Islam means “submission” in Arabic
 Five Pillars of Islam
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Shadah: profession of faith
Salah: 5 daily ritual prayers
Zakah: alms giving
Sawn: ritual fasting
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
 Koran: Islam’s holy book
Mecca and the Kaaba
during the Hajj
Lecture 9
Islam: Arab Expansion
 After 632, Arab armies moved out
of Arabia seizing Syria, Palestine,
Egypt, and then all of North Africa
from the Byzantines
 They crossed the Strait of
Gibraltar conquering the Visigoths,
and only were stopped by the
Franks at the Battle of Tours in
733
 Arab armies also went east into
Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
 Reasons for Arab success:
 Military
 Political
 Economic
 Religious
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Jihad
Tolerance
Arab conquests:
622 – 750 CE
Lecture 9
Islam: Civil War
 Muhammad had been succeeded by
Abu Bakr, who was given the title of
Khalifa or Caliph
 After a number of successors, Ali,
Muhammad’s son-in-law became
Caliph, but his succession disputed
by the family of his assassinated
predecessor, Uthman
 Although the supporters of Uthman
won the civil war, Ali’s supporters
never were reconciled
Shiites: faction originating with Ali’s
supporters. Believes the Caliph must
be related by blood or marriage ties to
Muhammad
 Sunnis: Caliph does not need to be
related to Muhammad—most Muslims
are Sunnis
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Distribution of
Sunnis and Shiites
Lecture 9
Islam: Umayyad Dynasty
 Established by Mu’awiya, son of
Uthman, who did not accept the
legitimacy of Ali as Caliph
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Gained legitimacy after Ali’s assassination
by a disgruntled follower
Ruled the Islamic world from Damascus in
Syria
 The Umayyads saw the expansion of
Islam west into Spain and east into
Indus Valley
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For instance, it was under the Caliph
Hashim, that Umayyad were defeated at
Tours in 732 CE
 The Umayyads were overthrown by
the Abbasid clan in 750 CE
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A grandson of Hashim, Abd al-Rahman
survived the massacre of his family and
found refuge in Spain where he revived the
Umayyad Caliphate in that region
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Dynasty lasted until 1031 CE
Umayyad Great Mosque
Damascus, Syria
Lecture 9
Islam: Abbasid Dynasty
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The Abbasids established their capital in
Mesopotamia in Baghdad
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Administration
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As had other empires before them, the
Abbasids tried to keep their domains tied
together with a road network, express
riders, and governors (“emirs”)
Increasing numbers of non-Arabs served in
administering their Caliphate
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Over time some emirs in far-flung
regions established real or de facto
independence
Puppet Caliphate
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This helped take pressure off the
Byzantines as it oriented Abbasid expansion
east toward India
In 945, the Buyids overran Baghdad
In 1055, the Abbasids fell to the Seljuk
Turks
The final fall came in 1258 when Mongol
invaders captured and sacked Baghdad
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They executed the last Caliph and
reportedly killed all of Baghdad’s residents
Lecture 9
Islamic Civilization: Social Patterns (1)
 Although the Arabians themselves
were not a very advanced culture in
the 7th century CE, the society that
emerged from their conquests
became one of the most advanced in
medieval period
 Arabian Society in 600 CE
Organized around tribal groups tied
together by loyalty to a strong leader
and the belief they had common
ancestry
 Head of the tribe was a “sheik”
elected by family heads
 While the Koran preached all people
were equal in the sight of Allah, the
sense of aristocracy among the
Arabian elite survived the rise of
Islam and encouraged Arab
conquerors to feel superior to subject
peoples
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Mosque interior
Cordoba, Spain
Lecture 9
Islamic Civilization: Social Patterns (2)
 Divisions in Early Islamic Society
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Caliph’s household and ruling Arab
Muslims constituted the elite
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Converts
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Attached themselves to Arab tribes as
clients
Converts came to dominate business
and the professions
Gradually intermarried with Arabs,
becoming Arab in language and culture
Dhimmis (“Protected People”)
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Initially a person had to be born into this
elite
Jews, Christians, or Zoroasterians
Tolerated as long as they accepted
Muslim supremacy and paid “jitza”
Slaves
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Came from non-Dhimmi conquered
people
Christians in the Arab world
Egypt, Iraq, and Palestine
Lecture 9
Islamic Civilization: Social Patterns (3)
 Women in Islamic Society
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Islam initially led to an improved
position for women
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They could own property
Had freedom of movement
Participated with men in religious
observances
This position declined during the late
Umayyad period
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Arabs seemed to have gradually
adopted practices of veiling and
secluding women prevalent among
conquered peoples, especially the
Persians
 Trade and Commerce
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Islam was very favorably disposed
toward trade and commerce—after
all, Muhammad had been a merchant
Ottoman harem
Lecture 9
Islamic Civilization: Social Patterns (4)
 Urban culture
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Although Islam became practiced in rural
and urban areas, it originated in the latter
and only gradually spread into the former
outside Arabia
Some of the great medieval cities of the
world were Islamic
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Baghdad
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Cairo
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Cordoba
 Education
Medieval Islam greatly valued
education and the acquisition of
knowledge
 Madrasa: Islamic schools
 Islamic education and the Arabic
language proved a great unifying
force in the Islamic work
 Muslim disdain for Christian Europe
not just religious—they saw Europe
as backward and uncultured
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