fc.46 the rise of the arab muslims & their impact (632-c.1000)

AFC.46 THE RISE OF THE ARAB MUSLIMS & THEIR IMPACT (632-c.1000)

Flowering of Islamic civ which is passed on to:

Arabs’ extensive contact w/Rome & Persia Persians & Byz’s

exhausted from long wars (FC.44)

Persecuted heretics like more tolerant

Arabs (FC.38) Excellent generals & desert tactics

Dynamic power of Arabs inspired by Islam

Arabs ready to unify & expand

Fertile ground for Islam

Arabs conquer an empire extending from Spain to India

Adapt many features of Byzantine & Persian civ’s:

Greek science, philos., math &

architecture

Indian place value digits

& Zero

Persian Lit. & urban planning

Seljuk Turks (FC.48)

Muslim India (FC.52)

Italian Ren. (FC.76)

Stable trade & prosperous economy Money to support arts & culture

Arabs see need to adapt Byzantine & Persian

governing techniques to ruling their own empire

Use prof. bur’s, standing armies, coinage, elaborate

palaces & court ritual

Spend heavily on archit. & new cities (e.g., Baghdad)

Stimulates trade w/W. Eur. Helps both civilizations

Until overspending wrecks Muslim economy & cuts

trade w/W. Europe

Viking & Arab raids hurt Franks’ emp. (FC.40)

Tensions within Arab soc. over who was the legitimate caliph (spiritual & political

leader of Islam)

Tribal type of rule of first 4 “Orthodox” Caliphs

Turmoil & civil war

Ummayads establish dynastic principle (651-750)

Sunnite/Shi’ite split which still divides Muslim world

Abassid Dyn. replaces Ummayads, but fails to keep empire together

Seljuk Turks take over from Arabs (FC.48)


Arabs’ extensive contact w/Rome & Persia

Arabs ready to?

A

?

FC.46 THE RISE OF THE ARAB MUSLIMS & THEIR IMPACT (632-c.1000)



Fertile ground for?



Leadership?Arabs ready to unify & expand




Excellent generals & desert tactics

What did these factors combined lead to?





Byz subjects in Syria, Palestine & Egypt?

Excellent generals & desert tactics






Persians & Byz’s?Persecuted heretics

like more tolerant Arabs (FC.38) Excellent generals

& desert tactics












Arabs conquer an empire extending from ?










A

Arab invasions went in three directions simultaneously: north-east into Mesopotamia against Persia, north into Syria and Palestine against the Byzantines, and north-west into Egypt and across North Africa, also against the Byzantines. In 711 their forces would simultaneously enter Spain in the West and India in the East. By 750, their empire would span an even greater territory than Alexander’s conquests.

The Arab general Khalid’s legendary 200 mile march across the Syrian desert in 636 to join his comrades at the Battle of the Yarmuk River. Supposedly, Khalid’s men engorged their camels with water before the march and killed them one by one along the march to water their horses from the dead camels’ stomachs. A more apocryphal version had Khalid constructing a pipeline of goatskins across the desert.

Arab women & children defend their camp from a Byzantine attack during the Yarmuk campaign. At the height of the battle, a sandstorm blew in the faces of the Byzantines. Seeing this as a sign of God’s favor, the Arabs renewed their attack and won the battle delivering Syria and Palestine into Muslim hands

The Arabs’ triumphant entry into Alexandria in 639 after a 7-month siege where they filled the moat and stormed the city’s walls. Although the Byzantines briefly recovered the city, the Arabs quickly retook it and proceeded westward across N. Africa.

A late Sassanian cavalryman (l.) such as those defeated by the Arabs in their initial eastward expansion in the 600s. A number of these, who were left over in Palestine and Syria from the recent war with Byzantium, signed on and served with the Arabs.

At the battle of Kadisiya in 637, a sandstorm supposedly blew in the faces of the Persians, much like it had against the Byzantines at the Yarmuk River the year before. Kadisiya and another great victory in 642 opened Mesopotamia, Persia, and Media to Arab conquest.

On the right is a North African Berber tribesman. The Berbers (from the Latin term for barbarians) converted to Islam and largely filled the ranks of Islam’s armies as they spread across North Africa in the 600’s and into Spain in 711.

Civil strife, the defeat at the hands of the Franks in the Battle of Tours in the West in 733, and two disastrous sieges of Constantinople (674-8, 717-8) in the East brought the initial tide of Arab conquests to a halt. However, lightly armed Arab cavalry such as this would continue to raid and attack Christian lands in Spain and Anatolia for years. In both places, a certain amount of cultural exchange would gradually take place, helping Arab civilization reach its peak by c.1000 and eventually pass its knowledge on to Western Europe via Spain.

4 Orthodox Caliphs (~ pope + emp)Abu Bakr (632-34)Umar (634-44)Uthman (644-56)Ali (656-61)











leader of Islam)












leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war

The Shi’ites

The Hashimites, descendants of Hashim, were the “family of the Prophet.” Although Mohammed (green box) had no sons, two lines of Hashimites survived him, one from his uncle Abbas, & the other from his daughter Fatima who married Mohammed’s first cousin, Ali.

The Shi’ites


Shi’ites believe only Ali & his descendents (called imams, numbers 1-12) are fit to lead Islam politically and spiritually. However, the Shi’ites did not crystallize as a movement until after 750 when Abul-abbas became caliph instead of one of the Alids.

Within the Shi’ites there are several groups. The most prominent are the Imami or Twelver Shi’ites (found in Iran and elsewhere today). They acknowledge twelve imams, but believe the 12th has been in hiding since 873 CE and will return at the end of time as the mahdi (messiah). Imams are the source of all guidance, but until their return, scholars guide the community, as they do for Sunnis.

The Shi’ites



Within the Shi’ites there are several groups. The most prominent are the Imami or Twelver Shi’ites (found in Iran and elsewhere today). They acknowledge twelve imams, but believe the 12th has been in hiding since 873 CE and will return at the end of time as the mahdi (messiah). Imams are the source of all guidance, but until their return, scholars guide the community, as they do for Sunnis.

There are a other smaller (mostly extinct) splinter groups. Some, like the Druze in Syria, regard the imams as divine. The Ismailis believe Muhammed, son of Ismail, was the last imam & messiah who would soon return. When the founder of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt claimed to be that imam (c.900) the Ismailis split into two groups and further fragmented over time. One branch is led by the Agha Khan.

The Shi’ites



In 680, Ali’s son, Husayn, set out with about 100 supporters, including women and children, to challenge Umayyad rule. At Karbala, in present day Iraq, Husayn (the central figure on the horse) and his followers were massacred by the forces of Yazid-Husayn. Shi’ites still revere the anniversary of Husayn’s martyrdom as the most important day in their calendar and Karbala as their holiest site.

FC.46A THE SUNNI-SHI’ITE SPLIT & ROOTS OF TERRORISM IN ISLAM

Corruption & injustice Suppress lower

status Arabs & non-Arab converts to Islam

Islam’s theocratic nature Islam combining religion & politics (FC.46)

Abu Bakr (632-4), Umar, (634-44), & Uthmann (644-56) all chosen over Ali

Contact with & infl. of Zoroastrianism, Chr., & Judaism, all w/beliefs in

future savior

Split over who should succeed Moh. as Kalifa (deputy) b/w followers of:

Ali, Moh’s cousin & son-in-law

Abu Bakr, 1 of Moh’s 1st converts

Conquest of emp for Islam Contact

w/other civ’s (FC.46)

Conquest of emp for Islam. Riches &

power (FC.46)

Ali (656-61) made Caliph Ummayyads overthrow & kill him Dynastic principle replaces religion as basis for rule

Followers of Ali (Shi’atu Ali Shi’ites) see these events as sacrilege

He will return as Mahdi (“rightfully guided one”) to restore just rule Messianic theme in Shi’a Islam

Theme of suffering & expiation makes Shi’a even more of a religious movement

680- rev. by Husayn, son of Ali & Fatima (Moh’s daughter) 70 members of Ali’s family massacred

at Karbala Only 1 son of Husayn, Ali, survives

685-7- Unsucc. Rev. in favor of another son of Ali, Mohammed, as Imam, Islam’s true & rightful leader

Belief he’s still alive & hidden by God

Sunni-Shi’ite split in Islam, which is given more religious edge by 2 events:

More radical groups’ beliefs often far removed from mainstream Islam’s beliefs:

Fuse w/local rel’s Beliefs such as reincarnation

Rejection of all laws Justifies murder & assass.

Belief in imam’s miraculous powers Deification

Long pattern of relig rev’s centered around Imam, sometimes called Mahdi, & da’i, who preaches & sometimes fashions imam’s message & leads followers to victory or martyrdom

Best known such group the Assassins in 12th & 13th centuries who targeted Sunni Muslims more than Christian Crusaders

(FC.67)

Basis for present day terrorists in Mid-East who also carried out attacks in Europe and

US on 9/11/2001 (FC.146B)












leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war













Where do the Arabs get ideas for how to rule their

empire?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war
















What things do they adapt?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war



















leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





Arab-Sassanian, 'Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, AH* 65-86/AD 685-705, AR Drachm (4.0g). Sassanian Khusro II style bust/Fire altar and attendants, Darabjerd mint,

*AH = After Hegira, the beginning of the Muslim calendar in 622 CE

Having no coinage of their own, the Arabs’ earliest coinage copied that of the last Sassanid Persian king, Yazdgard III. This continued from Yazdgard's death in CE 651 to the early 700s with subsidiary series continuing in Tabaristan and Eastern Sistan until the late 700s. However, believing it wrong to depict human faces, the Ummayad caliph, al Walid started minting coins with passages from the Koran replacing rulers’ portraits.

al-Walid I, AH* 86-96; AD705-715, AR Dirham

Elite guardsmen such as these would largely replace the ragtag Arab tribesmen who conquered the empire, another sign of the growing wealth and sophistication of Muslim civilization.














What do they especially spend heavily on?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war




















leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





An Abbasid palace built in the 1200s

The Golden mosque built by the Abbasids















Impact on trade & W. Eur’s econ?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war




















Until what happened?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





















trade w/W. Europe

Which led to?


leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





















trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





FC. 40A MUSLIM TRADE LINKS AND THE RISE & FALL OF THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE (C.800-1000)

Disintegration of Frankish Empire in 800s (FC.41)

Flourishing Muslim civilization in 700s (FC.46)

Frankish Empire prosperous & strong in 700s & early 800s

Muslim Caliphs overspend

Muslim Caliphs overspend

Muslims & Viking middlemen lose trade & money

Less money with which Franks can build their state

Trade with Franks by way of Russia & Baltic declines

Muslims & Vikings turn to raiding

Frankish govt. & trade weakened

Muslims & middlemen prosper through peaceful trade

Silver which Charlemagne & Louis I

use to build Empire

Expansion of trade with Franks via Russia & Baltic










Stable trade & prosperous economy Money to?








trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war
















architecture


& Zero










trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





A tale from 1001 Arabian Nights

Baghdad was only a small village on the bands of the Tigris when the caliph, al-Mansur found it and decided to make it his capital. It was laid out in the circular Persian style and divided into four quadrants.












architecture


& Zero










trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





Venus, Mars, and Saturn seem to form a perfect equilateral triangle over Jerusalem as seen from Baghdad. This same configuration appeared in Middle Eastern skies on April 1, 2BC.

The Kaaba, Mecca

Mohammed’s Mosque in Medina

The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, where Mohammed supposedly started his night ride to Paradise. As a result, Jerusalem is the revered as the third most holy city in Islam, after only Mecca and Medina.

The Umayyad Great Mosque, Damascus (709-15)The oldest extant monumental mosque, it encompasses the former church of St. John, itself built on a Roman temple. The sacred enclosure was taken over by the Caliph al-Walid, who erected a great triple-arched prayer-hall. The domed treasury is seen in the background

Great Mosque, Samarra, Iraq (847)

Mosque of Al-Hakim, Cairo (990-1013)

The Masjid-i Shah, Isfahan, Iran, built by Shah Abbas (1612-37).

The Masjid-i Jami, IsfahanBegun in the 8th century, it acquired its final form in the 1600s). The mihrab niche dates from the Mongol period

In the prayer-hall there are, unusually, two minbars.

Samarkand, along the caravan routes in Central Asia












architecture


& Zero










trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war






Flowering of Islamic civ which is passed on to:











architecture


& Zero


Seljuk Turks (FC.48)

Muslim India (FC.52)

Italian Ren. (FC.76)









trade w/W. Europe



leader of Islam)


Turmoil & civil war





fc.46 the rise of the arab muslims & their impact (632-c.1000)

Documents

tolerant arabs fc

arab muslims

long wars fc

muslim india fc

viking arab raids

arab women children

syrian desert

persecuted heretics