Aim: How would history have been different had Islam spread to Western Europe?

Period 3: 600 CE – 1450 CE

I Age of Conquest and DivisionA) Muhammad, the founder and prophet of Islam died in 632 CE. When he died he had not named a successor, which led to a major division within Islam.B) The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs--Mohammed's successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Muslims.C) Shiites, in contrast, believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali, are the legitimate successors of Mohammed. D) Sufis developed separately from Shiites and Sunnis. Through meditation they try to have a spiritual connection to Allah.*Read your textbook pages 137-138.

Whirling dervishes twirl, often for hours, as an act

of ecstatic devotion.

Age of Conquest and Division Continued…F) Islam offered the possibility of an end to the feuds amongst the tribal peoples of Arabia with the proposal of an umma, or community of the faithful. Islam also offered a unifiying ethical system; all believers were seen as equal under Allah.G) Payment of the zakat, a tax for charity, was obligatory.H) Sharia law (Islamic law) regulated all aspects of a Muslim’s life.I) Under the Umayyad Dynasty, converts to Islam had to pay a tax and were not considered full members of the umma. Naturally, the number of voluntary converts was low.J) The term “people of the book” applied to Jews and Christians, and occasionally even Zoroastrians; they were monotheistic and read the Old Testament (Jews) and the New Testament (Christians). They all had to pay a tax, but they were not forced to convert.

Age of Conquest and Division Continued…

VIII Islamic DynastiesUmayyad Empire (661-750 CE)

Conquered North Africa, Iberia (Spain) and Palestine. Capital at Damascus. Built the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (former site of the Jewish Temple). Allowed freedom of religion to “people of the book” if they paid a tax.

Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)

Conquered the Umayyad Empire. Moved the capital to Baghdad.

Tamerlane’s Empire (1398 – 1405)

Tamerlane was a Mongol and a Muslim. He conquered India and created his capital at Samarkand. Death toll approx. 19 million. He died in 1405 before he could conquer the Ming Dynasty in China.

Islamic Dynasties Continued…Ottoman Empire (1299 – 1922)

Begun by Osman. In 1453 the Ottomans captured Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. Rulers were called Sultans. The Ottomans forced many Christian boys to convert to Islam and serve in the army; they were called janissaries.

IX International Muslim TradeA) In the Middle Ages (from the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE through the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century), trade in Western Europe had fallen. However..B) During the same time, Muslim led camel caravans crossed the Sahara and the Silk Road. This allowed the Muslim world to maintain a strong economy, and scientific advancements through cultural diffusion.

X Achievements in the Arts and ManufacturingA) Manufacturing:1. Steel swords from Spain2. Leather from Iberia (modern day Spain)3. Cotton textiles from Egypt4. Carpets from Persia

Leather Manufacturing In Morocco

Arts and Manufacturing Continued…B) As Muslims are forbidden from creating images of people or animals, they developed a new style of art known as arabesque; geometric patterns that resemble floral shapes.C) For the same reason, Muslims also developed a form of calligraphy.

Blue Arabesque Tiles, Samarkand

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

The Alhambra Palace, Grenada, Spain

Arts Continued…D) One of the most famous works of Islamic literature is The Thousand

and One Nights, author unknown.

The Plot: King Shahryar’s wife is unfaithful to him. He has her killed. Then, loathing all women, he marries and kills a new wife each day afterward. Shahrazad, a daughter of the King’s vizier, insists on marrying him so to end his terror. She begins to tell the king a tale, leaving it incomplete at the end of the night…which she continues to do until she has given birth to his children, when he finally abandons his plan.

XI Math and ScienceA) Muslim scholars translated Greek, Roman, and Hindu texts, preserving them. *Recall that this was before the invention of the printing press of the internet!B) Muslims spread the Hindu number system (Arabic numerals) to EuropeC) Al-Khwārizmī invented algebra D) Built astronomical observatories

Persian Telescope, 13th century

Math and Science Continued…One of the first Directors of the House of Wisdom in Bagdad in the early 9th Century was the Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi. He oversaw the translation of the major Greek and Indian mathematical and astronomy works into Arabic, and produced original work which had a lasting influence on the advance of Muslim and later European mathematics. Perhaps his most important contribution to mathematics was his strong advocacy of the Hindu numerical system. The Hindu numerals 1 - 9 and 0 - which have since become known as Hindu-Arabic numerals - were soon adopted by the entire Islamic world, and later throughout Europe as well.

Math and Science Continued…Al-Khwarizmi’s other important contribution was algebra. Al-Khwarizmi wanted to go from the specific problems considered by the Indians and Chinese to a more general way of analyzing problems, and in doing so he created an abstract mathematical language which is used across the world today. In particular, Al-Khwarizmi developed a formula for systematically solving quadratic equations.

Math and Science Continued…In addition to his work in mathematics, Al-Khwarizmi made important contributions to astronomy, also largely based on methods from India, and he developed the first quadrant (an instrument used to determine time by observations of the Sun or stars).

Al-Khwarizmi

Math and Science Continued…E) While medieval European doctors used leeches to bleed their

patients for almost every illness, Muslim doctors were performing cataracts surgery and providing small pox vaccinations!

F) Ibn Sina wrote the Canon on Medicine; an encyclopedia of all medical knowledge.

Ibn Battuta Travels in Asia and Africa1325 – 1354 (A Muslim Scholar and Explorer from Tangier, Morocco)

On the morrow he rode with me and we reached [Malaga], which is one of the largest

and most beautiful towns of Andalusia [Iberia, modern Spain]… I saw grapes… and its

ruby-coloured pomegranates have no equal in the world... At Malaqa there is

manufactured excellent gilded pottery, which is exported thence to the most distant

lands… the court of the mosque is of unequalled beauty, and contains exceptionally

tall orange trees. Thence I went to on the city of Gharnata [Granada], the metropolis

of Andalusia and the bride of its cities… I met at Gharnata a number of its

distinguished scholars and the principal Shaykh, who is also the superior of the Sufi

orders… He showed me the greatest honor and went with me to visit the hospice…

There is also at Gharnita a company of Persian darwishes [dervishes]... One is from

Samarqand [Samarkand], another from Tabriz, a third from Quniya [Konia], one from

Khurasan, two from India, and so on...

HW1. Fill in your chart for the different Muslim Dynasties. 2. Read Chapter 6 in your textbook “The Rise and Spread of Islam”. a) How did the role of women change from pre-Islamic Arabia to post-

Islamic Arabia?b) How did the role of upper-class women in Islamic society compare

to women in classical Indian, Greek, Chinese, or Roman society?c) Which Islamic dynasty/empire had the greatest achievements?

Support your answer with historical evidence.d) How did the split of Shia and Sunni Muslims effect the development

of Islamic civilization?

Key Vocabulary