World History:The Earth and its Peoples

Chapter 8

The Sasanid Empire and the Rise of Islam,

200 - 1200 C.E.

Objectives

• Determine how the social and political developments under the Sasanid Empire paved the way for the spread of Islam.

• Illustrate how the Arab conquests grew out of the career of Muhammad.

• Identify the reasons for the breakup of the caliphate.

• Discuss the relationship between urbanization and the development of Islamic culture.

Sasanid Empire, 224-651 CE

Sasanid Empire– Present-day Iran– Rivalry with E. Roman Empire

• trade and incursion

• Ctesiphon– cosmopolitan capital on Tigris

• Arab pastoralists– merchants and mercenaries

• caravaneers; military saddle

• Silk Road– cotton, sugarcane, rice

Sasanid Empire, 224-651 CE

Religion– Zoroastrianism

• state religion of Sasanid– Christianity

• state religion of Byzantium• Armenian Nestorians

– Jesus: human and divine– Heretics– The Nicene Creed

• political pawns in Sasanid• penetration into Arabian peninsula

• both religions were intolerant– religion as politics– religion key identifier– Manichaean

• battle between good and evil• sets stage for rise of Islam

The Origins of Islam

Location– Arabian interior; out of ‘sight’– S. Arabia as inhabitable; urban– contact via caravan trade

Mecca– Isolated caravan city– Ka’ba pilgrimage site

• Abraham as builder– Ishmael ‘sacrifice’

• Idols– 570 CE orphan birth

• Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad– caravan interests– only son died in childhood

• Meditation– revelations from Gabriel – 610 CE

• “Night of Power and Excellence”• Khadija, Ali, Abu Bakr

– preaching• One creator god (Allah)• judgment day

– Christianity and Judaism• Islam – surrender to will of God• Muslim – one who submits

– more perfect message• No editing process

• Threat to Meccan leaders

3:32

Formation of the Umma

Medina– 215 mile north of Mecca -622 CE– hijra

• Beginning of Muslim calendar

• Umma– Islamic community

• Muhammad as God’s messenger

• Expulsion of Jews

• Surrender of Mecca – 630 CE– God on Muhammad’s side

• New Arab state based on a common religious faith

Islamic Succession

Muhammad’s Death – 632 CE– no son as successor– only prophet has revelations

• Abu Bakr– khalifa – successor

1. Maintain Five Pillars of Islam– one god / prophet– prayer– Ramadan fasting– alms– Mecca pilgrimage - hajj

2. Muslim authority– caliphate

Islamic Succession

Quran – 650 CE– book of Muhammad’s revelations– unalterable word of god

Trouble in the ranks– Caliph assassins– 4th caliph

• Ali– Battle of the Camel – 656 CE

» Ali’s legitimacy

• Umayyad Caliphate– Mu’awiya

• Son Yazid as successor– Husayn

• Ali’s son assassinated – 680 CE• Beginning of Shite religious sect

Islamic Succession

Shite– Ali as rightful successor

• descendents as Imams– secular, not religious

Sunnis– 1st 3 caliphs properly chosen– chosen caliphs as Imams

4:47

Islamic Conquests, 634-711 CE

2nd Caliph (Umar)– Syria, Egypt, Tunisia (634-644)– Spain and Sind (711 CE)

• Reasons for success– political and economical– sophistication

• authority of Medina– no forced religious conversion

Umayyad Caliphate - 661-750 – Arab rather than religious

empire– adapted Byzantine / Sasanid

administration

• Decline– unrest among non-Arab Muslims

demanding political power

Abbasid Caliphate

Abbasid Caliphate - 750-1258– “Golden Age”– cosmopolitan culture in Baghdad

• translations to Arabic• adopted ways of Sasanids• conversion of non-Arabs• abundance of literary works

– The Arabian Nights

Decline– too big to rule effectively– local principalities withheld taxes

• mamluks– standing army of Turkic slaves– Buyids family

• northern Iran

Political Fragmentation

Samanids– Iranians at Bukhara– Persian literary influence

Fatimids– Egyptians at Cairo– Mediterranean economic power

Umayyad– al-Andalus, Spain– blended Roman, Germanic, Jew

with Arab and Berber– title of caliph (929 CE)

• response to Fatimid claim– Jewish thinkers and writers

• contributions to cultural growth

• ulama - religious scholars

Nomadic Upsurge

Seljuk Turks - 1030– nomads from steppes north of

Black, Caspian, Aral Seas– Tughril Beg

• shah• 1st Turkish Muslim state

– Battle of Manzikert - 1071• Byzantine Anatolia

• Effects– cities shrank (food supply)– irrigation suffered; taxes short– aloof to religious infighting– withering of Baghdad

Muslim Unification

Saladin– ends Fatimid Caliphate - 1171– Egypt and Syria– captures Jerusalem - 1187

• defeats Crusaders– fight off future Crusades

Turkish Mamluks– seize power in 1250

• result of Crusades– defeat Mongols in 1260

Islamic Civilization

Sharia– Islamic law

• no legal legal system in place• sunna

– Muhammad’s example

– hadith• reports of Muhammad’s words

and deeds• second only to the Qur’an• incorporated by legal scholars

• Vision– common moral values– minimize ethnic and political

divisions

Islamic Hadiths

Islamic Civilization

Conversion– gradual learning about Islam

• death and taxes• learn for themselves

– no priests

– simple process• Arabic profession of faith

– literacy

– major cause of urbanization• religion as identity• economic opportunity in cities• cities as centers of Islam

– growth of market economy• advances in math and sciences

Islamic Society

Women– status deduced from men– no public role in society

• own property, initiate divorce• public veiling

– fear of sexual infidelity and meddling in politics

• Ex: A’isha

Slavery– forbade enslaving ‘People of the

Book”

Education– madrasas– Sufism

• direct union with God through rituals and training