Chapter 11: Islam !   Islam means “submission” in Arabic!!  Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and deeds

(hadith) are basis of Islam!!  Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s life

are fulfilled in the life of a community (the umma)!

!  Combination of religion and government makes Islam similar to empires !

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!

!   After Muhammad’s death, his words were memorized and written down as the Quran!

!   Quran regarded as absolute, uncorrupted word of God!

!   Discovery of paper and printing speeds the spread of the Quran!

The Origins of Islam !  The Five Pillars of Islam!

!   Declaring the Creed!!   Praying five times a day facing Mecca!!   Giving alms to the poor!!   Fasting each day during Ramadan!!   Making a hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)!

The Origins of Islam !  The Five Pillars of Islam [cont.]!

!   Jihad (sacred struggle) sometimes called the “sixth pillar”!•  For some it means the extension of Muslim

lands (dar al-Islam)!•  For others it means personal struggle!

!   Faithful Muslims will attain paradise!!   Many parallels among Islam, Judaism, and

Christianity!

The Origins of Islam !  Responses to Muhammad!

!   Residents of Mecca found his moral teachings too demanding and questioned his mental stability!

!   Meccan Christians and Jews did not believe their monotheism needed purification!

!   Death of many of first-generation followers caused remainder to relocate !

The Origins of Islam !  Responses to Muhammad [cont.]!

!   The Hijira and the Islamic Calendar!•  Muhammad invited to Medina to adjudicate dispute!•  Flight to Medina (622 C.E.) known as hijira and is Year

One of the Islamic calendar!•  Converted many in Medina but not Jews!•  Created religious community (umma) interlocked with

Islamic government (dar al Islam) !•  Formulated legal code based on the Quran!

The Origins of Islam !  Responses to Muhammad [cont.]!

!   Muhammad Extends His Authority!•  Warfare between early Muslims and Mecca with

Muhammad ultimately winning in 630 C.E.!•  Muslims destroyed Meccan idols, captured Ka’aba, and

turned it and its sacred black rock into Islmaic shrine!•  By time of Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims were well

on their way to creating an Arabia-wide federation dedicated to faith and the political structure of Islam!

The Origins of Islam !  Responses to Muhammad [cont.]!

!   Connections to Other Monotheistic Faiths!•  Muslims claim Abraham (Hebrew) as the first Muslim and

see Jews, Christians, and Muslims as “children of Abraham”!

•  Accept earlier prophets including Jesus as people whose ideas were later corrupted by followers!

•  Believe there will be no further revelations!•  Christians and Jews allowed to practice their faith but

were subject to a special tax!

Successors to the Prophet !  Problem of successor to Muhammad initially

met by election of close associates as caliph!!  Military successes spread Islam: Damascus

in 636 and Jerusalem in 638!!  Administered conquered lands with garrison

towns which were unstable!!   Islam an empire or a religion?!

Successors to the Prophet !  Religious Conflict and 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 (680); eleven Shi’a imams or caliphs were assassinated in all!

!   Shi’a wanted imam to model religious principles; opponents saw post as political !

Successors to the Prophet !  Religious Conflict and the Sunni-Shi’a

Division [cont.]!!   Hereditary line of Muhammad’s family

ended with the disappearance of the “twelfth imam”!

!   Office of caliph no longer exists but dispute continues!

!   83% of Muslims are Sunni today!

Successors to the Prophet !  Umayyad Caliphs Build an Empire!

!   Urban life eroded tribal life, created class differences, and mixed Arab and non-Arab elites!

!   Used Byzantine and Persian governing practices!!   Revolts from 740s onward but some military

victories including Talas River (751), which halted Chinese advance westward!

Successors to the Prophet !  The Third Civil War and the Abbasid

Caliphs!!   From northern Iran Abbasids claimed

caliphate in 750!!   Continued imperial quest of the Umayyids!!   Abbasids successfully ruled empire for a

century with centralized administration and good local relations!

Successors to the Prophet !  The Weakening of the Caliphate!

!   Abbasids faced succession issues and civil war!

!   Began to rely more on slave troops!!   Civilian administration became more

corrupt!!   Tax collection became exploitive !

Successors to the Prophet !  The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]!

!   The Emergence of Quasi-Independent States!•  Distance of rulers from people prompted revolts!•  Ismaili and Shi’ite leaders promoted rebellion !•  In 945 rebels took control of Baghdad and effectively

ended the empire, but allowed Abbasids to continue to rule in name only!

•  Arrival of Seljuk Turks led to creation of sultanate over government while Abbasids administered the religious side (1055) !

Successors to the Prophet !  The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]!

!   Mongols and the Destruction of the Caliphate!•  Temujin (later called Chinngis Khan) forged alliance with

Turks and built extensive empire !•  Hulegu conquered Baghdad (1258) and executed

Abbasid caliph!•  Death of Hulegu’s brother and military defeat ended

expansion of Mongol empire!•  Muslims continued to expand and win converts despite

military defeats!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering !  Fall of Caliphate in 1258 meant fall of umma!!  Some scholars saw this as decline of Islam!!  Others point to continued spread of Islam and

its acceptance by Mongol descendents!!  Current distribution of Muslims shows

presence in areas never reached by Caliph or converted after end of caliphate!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!   Islam Reaches New Peoples!!   India!

•  Muslim raids into India led to conquest of Delhi by 1211 and creation of Delhi Sultanate (1211-1526)!

•  Controlled subcontinent by 1335!•  Most Muslim rulers accommodated Hinduism!•  Converts to Islam escaped “untouchable” status!•  Many Muslims were near the top of the social hierarchy !

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!   Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]!!   Southeast Asia!

•  Most conversions occurred in 14-15th centuries!!   Sub-Saharan Africa!

•  Islam arrived via traders and Sufis!•  Ghana was major trading center, rival of Arabs!•  Traders converted to Islam; masses in 19th century!•  Wave of conversions accompanied defeat of Ghana by

Almoravids!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]!!   Sub-Saharan Africa [cont.]!

•  Mansa Musa of Mali, orthodox Muslim, made hajj in 1324 and revealed wealth of area !

•  Timbuktu a major center of learning!•  Spread of Islam into East Africa met fierce

resistance in Christian Ethiopia!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Law Provides an Institutional Foundation!!   Legal system of Islam, shari’a, survived fall of

caliph!!   Can use any of a group of legal interpretations!

•  Abu Hanifah, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad al-Shafii, Ahmed ibn Hanbal!

•  Exercise primary influence in different regions!!   Laws administered by religious scholars (ulama)!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Sufis Provide Religious Mysticism!!   The Role of Mysticism!

•  Rose as rejection of materialism of Umayyad!•  Sufis enabled followers to experience God

directly!•  Sufis attracted adherents with simplicity!•  Some emphasized ecstatic practices while

others were more sober and meditative!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Intellectual Achievements!!   History!

•  Formal history introduced by al-Tabari (c. 839-923)!

•  Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was first to apply social science theory to the understanding of history!

•  Favored cyclical view of history where new waves of invasion introduced new cycles of history!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Intellectual Achievements [cont.]!!   Philosophy!

•  Encountered philosophy from Greeks and Indians!

•  Attracted to Platonism and neo-Platonism!•  Mutazilites argued that Quran should be seen

as metaphorical, not literal, word of God!•  Enabled Christian and Jewish philosophers to

encounter Greek and Indian texts!

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  Intellectual Achievements [cont.]!!   Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine!

•  Astronomy texts from India to Baghdad by 770!•  al-Khwarazmi (d. c. 846) developed algebra!•  Medical cures were spread around the empire!•  Qanum fi’l-tibb (Canon of Medicine) of ibn Sina

(d. 1037) dominated Christian medical thinking for three hundred years !

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  The Extension of Technology!!   Islam a communication network connecting

all major Eurasia civilizations!!   Exchanged information with all of them!!   Agricultural exchange extensive!!   Used irrigation to offset absence of

monsoon rains prevalent in India, source of many new crops !

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

!  City Design and Architecture!!   Muslim governments built great cities!!   Mosques were a necessary element of

every city and neighborhood!!   Writings of Ibn Battuta underscore link

between cities, commerce, and travel!

Relations with Non-Muslims

!  Dhimmi Status!!   Three choices for non-Muslim in Muslim state!

•  Conversion!•  Dhimmi Status!

–  For worshippers of one God who accepted Muslim rule!–  Status defined by The Pact of Umar (634-644)!–  Paid special tax but could worship in their own faith!–  Couldn’t build new churches, seek converts, wear Muslim

clothing, or build houses higher than Muslim houses!•  Fight against the Muslim state!

Relations with Non-Muslims !  The Crusades (1095-1291)!

!   Called by Pope Urban II at request of Alexius I!!   Were political as much as religious efforts!!   Early crusades were successful and brutal!!   European crusaders were mercenaries!!   Crusades could capture but not hold holy places of

Christianity!!   Crusades divided Christianity along east-west

lines!

Relations with Non-Muslims !  A Golden Age in Spain!

!   Berbers revitalized Spanish culture and broke Byzantine control of trade in western Mediterranean!

!   End of Spanish caliphate (1030) opened door to start of Christian reconquista!

!   Rich hybrid culture survived in midst of reconquista!

!   Ferdinand and Isabella defeated Muslims in 1492 and expel Jews from Spain; Muslims follow!

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: What Difference Do They Make? !  Sources of friction among religions with

common heritage!!   Are proselytizing religions in search of

converts!!   Each sought to be the government in its

areas of predominance!!   Each became identified with a specific

geographic region!!   But there was also peaceful coexistence!