chapter 14

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Chapter 14

The Expansive Realm of Islam


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Muhammad and His Message

• Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca• Orphaned as a child• Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as

merchant• Familiarity with paganism, Christianity and

Judaism as practiced in Arabian peninsula

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Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation

• Visions c. 610 CE

• Archangel Gabriel

• Monotheism

• Attracts followers to Mecca


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The Quran

• Record of revelations received during visions

• Committed to writing c. 650 CE (Muhammad dies 632)

• Tradition of Muhammad’s life: hadith


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Conflict at Mecca

• Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings offensive to polytheistic pagans

• Economic threat to existing religious industry

• Denunciation of greed affront to local aristocracy

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The Hijra

• Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) 622 CE– Year 0 in Muslim calendar

• Organizes followers into communal society (the umma)

• Legal, spiritual code• Commerce, raids on Meccan caravans for sake of

umma

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The “Seal of the Prophets”

• Islam as culmination and correction of Judaism, Christianity

• Inheritor of both Jewish and Christian texts

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Muhammad’s Return to Mecca

• Attack on Mecca, 630

• Conversion of Mecca to Islam

• Destruction of pagan sites, replaced with mosques– Ka’aba preserved in honor of importance of

Mecca– Approved as pilgrimage site


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The Ka’aba

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The Five Pillars of Islam

• No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet

• Daily prayer

• Fasting during Ramadan

• Charity

• Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)


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Muslims at Prayer

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Jihad

• “struggle”

– Against vice

– Against ignorance of Islam

• “holy war”

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Islamic Law: The Sharia

• Codification of Islamic law

• Based on Quran, hadith, logical schools of analysis

• Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human activity

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The Caliph

• No clear to successor to Muhammad identified

• Abu Bakr chosen to lead as Caliph

• Led war against villagers who abandoned Islam after death of Muhammad

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The Expansion of Islam

• Highly successful attacks on Byzantine, Sassanid territories

• Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory


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The expansion of Islam, 632-733 C.E.

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The Shia

• Disagreements over selection of caliphs • Ali passed over for Abu Bakr• Served as caliph 656-661 CE, then

assassinated along with most of his followers• Remaining followers organize separate party

called “Shia”– Traditionalists: Sunni


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Shi’ite Pilgrims at Karbala

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The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE)

• From Meccan merchant class

• Capital: Damascus, Syria

• Associated with Arab military aristocracy

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Policy toward Conquered Peoples

• Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes discontent

• Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims

• Head tax (jizya) on non-Muslims• Umayyad luxurious living causes

further decline in moral authority


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The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)

• Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, non-Arab Muslims

• Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia

• Defeats Umayyad army in 750

– Invited Umayyads to banquet, then massacred them

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Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty

• Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab)

• Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion

• Dar al-Islam

• Growth through military activity of autonomous Islamic forces


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Abbasid Administration

• Persian influence

• Court at Baghdad

• Influence of Islamic scholars (ulama, qadi)


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Caliph Harun al-Rashid(786-809 CE)

• High point of Abbasid dynasty

• Baghdad center of commerce

• Great cultural activity

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Abbasid Decline

• Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid

• Provincial governers assert regional independence

• Dissenting sects, heretical movements• Abbasid caliphs become puppets of

Persian nobility• Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real

power behind the throne

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Economy of the Early Islamic World

• Spread of food and industrial crops– Trade routes from India to Spain

• Western diet adapts to wide variety• New crops adapted to different growing seasons

– Agricultural sciences develop– Cotton, paper industries develop

• Major cities emerge


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Formation of a Hemispheric Trading Zone

• Historical precedent of Arabic trade

• Dar al-Islam encompasses silk routes– ice exported from Syria to Egypt in summer,

10th century

• Camel caravans

• Maritime trade


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Banking and Trade

• Scale of trade causes banks to develop

– Sakk (“check”)

• Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar al-Islam promotes trade

• Joint ventures common

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Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain)

• Muslim Berber conquerors from North Africa take Spain, early 8th c.

• Allied to Umayyads, refused to recognize Abbasid dynasty

– Formed own caliphate

– Tensions, but interrelationship


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Changing Status of Women

Quran improves status of women Outlawed female infanticide Brides, not husbands, claim dowries

Yet male dominance preserved Patrilineal descent Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice


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Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition

• Islamic values– Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam– Establishment of madrasas– Importance of the Hajj

• Sufi missionaries– Asceticism, mysticism– Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians– Wide popularity


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Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

• Major Sufi thinker from Persia

• Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy instead


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Cultural influences on Islam• Persia

– Adminstration and governance– literature

• India– Mathematics, science, medicine

• “Hindi” numbers• Greece

– Philosophy, esp. Aristotle– Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)

chapter 14

Documents

arab military aristocracy

ce muhammad

death of muhammad

abbas sunni arab

arab muslimshead tax

muhammad identifiedabu

umayyad dynasty

muhammads return