Transcript Chapter 6 The Rise and Spread of Islam

Chapter 6
The Rise and Spread of
Islam
• Arabian peninsula is
shaped by bedouin
culture, which
emphasized:
Desert & Town
The Pre-Islamic Arabic
World
– Kin-related clans
which formed larger
tribes led by shaykhs
– Interclan rivalry for
resources
– Women playing key
roles and enjoying
greater relative
freedom
– A religion that blends
animism and
polytheism
• Arabian peninsula lies on the periphery
of the classical world
• Bedouins live by herding; cities develop
further south (Mecca and Medina)
• Fierce competition and battles over oases
and trade routes
Towns & Trade
Muhammad and the Birth of
Islam
• 7th century C.E., a new religion arose in the
Arabian peninsula.
• Built on the revelations received by the
prophet Muhammad, Islam won over many
camel-herding tribes of the peninsula within
decades.
• Islam united Arabs under an important
ethical system.
• Islam’s beliefs and practices (including the
five pillars) eventually made it one of the
great world religions.
The archangel
Gabriel brings the
word of God to
Muhammad. (Turkish
poet - Siyer-i Nebi: The Life
of the Prophet, 1595.)
•Why are
paintings
like this not
accepted in
all Muslim
societies?
Birth of the Prophet
Muhammad
Siyer-i Nebi: The Life
of the Prophet.
Istanbul, 1594.
What scene
does this
painting
resemble?
What are the
differences?
The Prophet and his companions advancing on Mecca,
attended by the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and
Azrail.
Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet 1595.
Persecution,
Flight &
Victory
• Muhammad gains a
small following but
it constantly
threatened by the
Umayyad
• Hijra to Medina
creates a loyal core
and the return to
Mecca makes the
new faith
permanent
What Islam Offers
• One god that transcends all clan rivalries
• End to vendettas and feuds under the
umma
• An ethical system that heals social rifts
• A code of law to organize society
• An acceptance of the revelations in
Judaism and Christianity which makes it
easier for Islam to spread
The Death of
Muhammad
• Many bedouin reject Islam
• Conflict over succession
• Abu Bakr works to bring
people back into the
umma
• Conquests into the Persian
and Byzantine empires
garners wealth and
spreads Islam
•
Mourning of the Death of Muhammad
Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet.
Istanbul, 1595.
The Expansion of Islam
http://wpscms.pearsoncmg.com/wps/media/objects/3052/312
5929/flash/ch7/ch07.swf
Umayyad Rule and the SunniShi’a Split
• Conflict over successors leads to split,
which remains to this day
• Umayyad settle internal disputes and
pushed forward into central Asia,
northwest India, and southwestern
Europe.
• built an imperial administration with both
bureaucracy and military dominated by
a Muslim Arab elite.
Converts and “People of the
Book.”
Umayyad policy did not prevent interaction,
intermarriage, and conversion between Arabs and their
subjects.
Converts paid taxes and did not receive a share of
booty; they were blocked from important positions in the
army or bureaucracy.
Most of the conquered peoples were Dhimmis (people
of the book). Included Jews and Christians; later
Zoroastrians and Hindus.
Dhimmis had to pay taxes but could retain their own
religious and social organization.
Family and Gender Roles
• Altered as the Muslim community expanded.
Initially, the more favorable status of women
prevailed over the seclusion and male
domination common in the Middle East.
• Quran stressed the moral and ethical
dimensions of marriage. Adultery of both
partners was
denounced; female infanticide was forbidden.
Women could have only one husband,
but men were allowed four wives, though all
had to be treated equally.
• Muhammad strengthened women’s legal
rights in inheritance and divorce.
• Both sexes were equal before Allah
Abbasid Era
Malwiya Minaret
• Focus on
luxury and
weakened
military led to
decline of
Umayyad
• Abbasid clan
wins power;
led to
increased
bureaucratic
expansion,
absolutism,
and luxurious
living
Stressed conversion
and turned against the
Shi’a and other allies to
support a less tolerant
Sunni Islam.
Accepted Persian ruling
concepts
Large bureaucracy
worked under the
wazir, or chief
administrator.
Mawali were fully
integrated into the
Muslim community.
Most conversions
occurred peacefully
Abbasid Policies
Town and Country: Commercial
Boom & Agrarian Expansion
•
Flowering of
Islamic
Learning
Before Islam—no
writing/knowledge of the outside
world.
Receptive to the accomplishments
of conquered civs
Islamic learning flourished in
religion, law, philosophy, sciences
and mathematics.
Recovered and preserved the
works of earlier civs (Greeks)
which was passed on to the
Christian world.
Global
Connections
• Basis for the first
global civilization
• Islam becomes one
of the great
universal religions.
• Arabs absorbed
precedents from
earlier civilizations.
• Muslims did the
same in the arts
and sciences, later
contributing to
other societies in
Europe, Africa, and
Asia.