Transcript The Islamic Empires Arabia

The Islamic
Empires
Arabia
• Mostly desert
• Occupied by nomadic
herders called
Bedouins
• Clans of Bedouins
fought over scarce
resources
• Town of Mecca was a
major trading center
The Prophet Muhammad
• Arabian merchant who believed
he had been called upon to
spread the word (Qu’ran) of God
(Allah)
• Meccan merchants grew angry
over his rejection of the old
polytheistic religion (which was
good for trade) and plotted to kill
him, prompting him to flee Mecca
for the town of Medina; this flight
is known as the hegira
• Muhammad was welcomed in
Medina and became the ruler of
the city; later led his converts in
conquering Mecca and destroyed
the idols (or statues) worshipped
there
Islam
• Monotheistic: believe in the
same “God of Abraham” as
Christians and Jews
• Sacred text = Qu’ran
• God is all-powerful and
compassionate
• Men are responsible for
their own actions and will
be judged at death and sent
to either heaven or hell
• Sharia: Islamic law which
governs daily life, applies
the Qu’ran to all legal issues
The Five Pillars
• make a declaration of faith:
“there is no god but God and
Muhammad is his messenger”
– recognizes other prophets,
including Abraham. Moses, and
Jesus (do not recognize Jesus as
divine), but considers Muhammad
to be the last and greatest of the
prophets
• daily prayer: must face Mecca
when praying
• give charity to the poor
• fast (not eat or drink) between
sunrise and sunset during the
holy month of Ramadan
• make a pilgrimage to Mecca (this
trip is called a hajj)
Spread of Islam
• After Muhammad died in
632 AD, control of Islam
passed to his follower Abu
Bakr
• Islamic armies swept out of
Arabia and quickly
conquered the Middle East,
Persia, Egypt, and North
Africa
• 711 AD, crossed into Spain
until defeated in 732 at the
Battle of Tours, stopping
Islam’s advance into Europe
Life for the Conquered
• Muslim rulers were
extremely tolerant of nonMuslims who were also
monotheistic (Jews,
Christians, and
Zoroastrians), allowing
them to continue their own
religions and follow their
own laws; those of other
faith systems were usually
converted “by the sword”
(convert or be punished)
The Islamic Schism
• The first 4 caliphs (leaders
of Islam) were from
Muhammad’s family but
political divisions soon
erupted between the Shia
and Sunni
– Shiites believed that only
descendents of
Muhammad should lead
Islam (minority group)
– Sunnis believed that any
devout Muslim may lead
Islam (majority group)
The Umayyad Caliphate
• Came to power by assassinating
many members of Muhammad’s
extended family in order to
frustrate the Shia
• Moved capital of Islamic empire
from Mecca (a religious center) to
Damascus (an economic center
outside Arabia)
• Created a social class system
where converts to Islam did not
hold the same status as those
born into the faith
• Continued to expand empire
through conquest
The Abbasid Caliphate
• Overthrew the Umayyads in
750 AD through a successful
insurrection
• Moved capital of Islamic
empire to the new city of
Baghdad (in modern day
Iraq) to better administer
the empire from a more
central location and to take
advantage of its position
along the Silk Road
Disintegration of Empire
• Starting around 850 AD,
the Islamic empire began
to fragment into smaller
Islamic states
• Invaders began to
compound the problem
– Seljuks invade from central
Asia in the 900s
– Crusades out of Europe in
the 1100s and 1200s
– Mongols out of China in
1200s
Islamic Society
• People enjoyed social
mobility (could change
social classes)
• Had slaves, but Muslims
could not be enslaved
– if a slave converted to Islam,
their children became free
– if a slave married a free
Muslim, they became free
– slaves worked as servants,
soldiers, artisans, government
officials
– slaves could be freed or could
buy their own freedom
Trade
• Muslims were great
merchants
– crossed Saharan Desert to
trade with West Africa
– traveled the Silk Road to
trade with China
– sailed the Indian Ocean to
trade with India
– Introduced Europe to sugar
from India, paper from China
– Created branch-banking,
checks, and credit
– Artisans were controlled by
guilds (just like in Europe)
Arts & Architecture
• Qu’ran forbids artistic
representations of God or
religious figures
• Islamic art is usually made
up of geometric patterns
(called arabesques)
• Used fancy calligraphy
and vivid illustrations in
books
• Built elaborate and
beautiful mosques
Literature
• Poetry
– Firdawsi’s Shah Namah
(Book of Kings)
– Omar Khayyam’s The
Rubaiyat
• The Thousand and One
Nights
– Aladdin
– Ali Baba and the 40
Thieves
– Sinbad the Sailor
Education
• Boys and girls educated in
reading, writing, and the Qu’ran
• Great universities, libraries
• Preserved the works of the
Greeks and other earlier
civilizations at a time when such
works were being destroyed in
Europe because of their pagan
origins
• Had great philosophers and
historians
• Developed new forms of math
(Omar Khayyam’s “al jabr” or
“algebra”)
• Made tremendous advances in
medicine
Islam in India
• Muslims first conquered
Indus valley in 711
• Moved into the subcontinent in 1100s
• Many people of low-castes
converted from Hinduism to
Islam because it allowed
social mobility
• After Mongol invasions in
1398, India broke into a
number of small rival states
(some Muslim, some Hindu)
The Mughal Dynasty
• In 1526, the Mongols
(now converted to Islam)
again invaded India
– Established the Mughal
Dynasty (1526-1857)
– Founded by Babur and his
son Akbar the Great
– Chose to be tolerant of
Hindus to maintain peace
– Akbar’s grandson, Shah
Jahan, built the Taj Mahal
as a tomb for his beloved
wife, who had died young
The Ottoman Empire
•
•
•
Swept out of central Asia and toppled
the Byzantine Empire in 1453, using
cannons (a recent invention)
Eventually, empire stretched from
Eastern Europe to Arabia and through
the Middle East and across North
Africa
Distinct social classes
– Men of the pen – the educated
– Men of the sword - soldiers
– Men of negotiation – merchants,
artisans
– Men of husbandry – farmers,
herders
The Safavid Empire
• Formed in Persia (modernday Iran) in early 1500s
• Clashed with the Ottomans
• Greatest leader was Shah
Abbas (1588-1629)
– tolerated non-Muslims
– encouraged the arts
– strengthened trade along the
Silk Road
– walked the streets in disguise
to talk to the people and find
out their problems
– after his death, empire
declined and finally collapsed
in 1722