Islamic Empires and the Muslim Synthesis

Chronology of the Islamic Empires 570-632 Life of Muhammad

661-750 Umayyad Dynasty

750-1258 Abbasid Dynasty

1096-1204 Crusades from Europe

1258 Mongol capture of Baghdad

The Islamic Empires

How? Muhammad transforms Arabia – jihad

against Arab polytheists creates a confederation centered on Medina,

Muhammad, Islam “Pax Islamica” – Muslim brotherhood New raids to “expand and survive”

Expansion beyond Arabia Convert Arab pagans living in Persia and

Byzantine Empires How to treat Christians and Jews-dhimmis

conquest not for conversion but for loot could keep their religion, homes, churches,

businesses sometimes welcomed Arabs as liberators had to pay poll tax to Muslim rulers

Age of the Orthodox Caliphs632-661ce-capital at Medina

Crisis over succession-consensus vs. inheritance

Shia (“party”) vs. Sunni Conquests under Umar (See RGH #54)

-encourage expansion and loot-discourage assimilation-don’t encourage conversion, only happens gradually-don’t cause opposition by locals-don’t’ settle on the land (garrison towns)-emphasize loyalty to Islam-don’t lose “masculine virtues”

EARLY EXPANSION OF MUSLIM RULE

Umayyad Dynasty 661-750 – capital at Damascus

Arab military aristocracy Masters of the seas More interested in conquest than

conversion Growth of criticism

Mawali – non-Arab Muslims Shi’ites

Rebellion in 750ce

Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258-capital at Baghdad

The “golden age” of Islam Cosmopolitan and multi-

ethnic Time of the “Muslim

synthesis” Nomadic traditions fade Jihad dead Sufi mystics and merchants

spread Islam

Harun al Rashid

The “Muslim Synthesis”-First World Civilization? Trade and commerce-Islam friendly to

business (control trade routes)

An educational community -they preserved Greek philosophy at a time that Europe was a “cultural backwater”

Islam as a unifier-Islamic brotherhood

The Muslim Empire becomes the Intercommunicating Zone and agents of Southernization-Muslim Synthesis (See RGH #55)

ARABS DOING BUSINESS WITH MEDIEVAL MERCHANTS TRADE

ARTERIES OF TRADE AND TRAVEL IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD, TO 1500

“First World Civilization”

dar-al-Islam (world of Islam)

al-Andalus – Islamic Spain

Confrontation with Europe

Spain easily conquered

Rule for 700 years

Arabs revolutionize the economy

Liberal, tolerant regime

Great cultural achievements

Toledo and Cordoba

Great Mosque at Cordoba, 786When the Abbasids attempted to massacre 800 family members of the Umayyad dynasty at a dinner of peace, a few of them escaped, fled to Spain, and established Cordoba as their capital. The Great Mosque of Cordoba, begun in 786, contains all of the usual features of a mosque, but it is best known for its interior double set of horseshoe-shaped arches, one above the other, which are mounted on the capitals of granite and marble columns. (Christopher Rennie/Robert Harding Picture Library)

Map of the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain

The Crusades Crusade = “holy war”

Series of military campaigns undertaken by European Christendom against the Abbasid empire

Five military campaigns between 1095-1300

Offensive or defensive wars?

Reasons for the Crusades To “recapture”

Jerusalem

To end wars among Europe’s knights

Desire for wealth and information from the more advanced Islamic civilization

Important turning points… First crusade conquered Jerusalem 1099;

recaptured by Saladin 1187

Fourth crusade targeted Constantinople, weakening Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

Long-term effects of the Crusades The Crusades were never a mortal threat to the Abbasids

but they eroded their long-held culture of religious toleration

Weakened the Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

The Crusades stimulated Europe’s economy and “reintegrat[ed] Western Europe into the larger economy of the Eastern hemisphere” TE

Helped unify Europe vis a vis the “East”

After the Arab conquests, the Byzantine Empire will beon the front lines of Christianity

Map of Constantinople

Seige of Constantinople

Conquest by Ottomans, 1453

End of the Byzantine Empire

Hagia Sophia

From churchto mosque

INTERIOR OF AYASOFYA MOSQUE, FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF HAGIA SOPHIA, ISTANBUL

MUSLIM EMPIRES IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

The Crusades Crusade = “holy war”

Series of military campaigns undertaken by European Christendom against the Abbasid empire

Five military campaigns between 1095-1300

Offensive or defensive wars?

Reasons for the Crusades To “recapture”

Jerusalem

To end wars among Europe’s knights

Desire for wealth and information from the more advanced Islamic civilization

Important turning points… First crusade conquered Jerusalem 1099;

recaptured by Saladin 1187

Fourth crusade targeted Constantinople, weakening Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

Long-term effects of the Crusades The Crusades were never a mortal threat to the Abbasids

but they eroded their long-held culture of religious toleration

Weakened the Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

The Crusades stimulated Europe’s economy and “reintegrat[ed] Western Europe into the larger economy of the Eastern hemisphere” TE

Helped unify Europe vis a vis the “East”