Transcript Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Notes
AP World History
I. The Origins of Islam
 A.
The Arabian Peninsula Before
Muhammad
– 1. Most Arabs were settled people, but
nomads were responsible for caravan
trade that connected Arabia with the
Byzantine and Sasanid civilizations.
– 2. Nomads were polytheists who
worshipped natural forces and celestial
bodies.
– 3. Mecca was a caravan city and a cult
center that attracted nomads to worship
the idols in the Ka’ba.
 B.
Muhammad in Mecca
– 1. Received revelations from Allah in
610.
– 2. Message was that there is one god,
Allah and that all who submitted to him
would go to paradise and those who did
not would go to hell.
– 3. Considered the final revelations,
superceding the earlier revelations of
God to Noah, Moses, and Jesus.

C. The Formation of the Umma
– 1. Fled from Mecca to Medina to form the
community of believers.
– 2. Medina developed into the core of the Islamic
state.
– 3. Abu Bakr took over the leadership of the umma.
– 4. He saw that Muslim authority was established
over the Arabs and he oversaw the compilation and
organization of the Quran in book form.
– 5. Civil war broke out between the third caliph’s
clan Uthman, and Muhammad’s first cousing and
son-in-law Ali. The Umayya forces won and
established the Umayyad Caliphate in 661.
– 6. These disagreements led to the development of
the 3 sects of Islam; Sunni(Umayyad), Shi’ite(Ali),
and Kharijite sect.
II. The Rise and Fall of the
Caliphate, 632-1258
 A.
The Islamic Conquests, 634-711
– 1. First wave of conquest took Syria, Egypt
and the Sasanid Empire.
– 2. In the 7th and 8th centuries Tunisia,
Spain, Algeria, Morocco, and Sind were
taken.
– 3. Reason for conquests come down to the
talent of the Muslim leaders and the
structure of Arab society.
– 4. Arab forces were organized into regular,
paid, armies that were kept in military
camps and garrison towns so they did not

B. The Umayyad and Early Abbasid
Caliphates, 661-850
– 1. The Umayyads ruled over an Arab, not
Muslim empire and ruled their territory
through the established Byzantine and
Sassanid Apparatus.
– 2. Rebellions overthrew the Umayyads and the
Abbasids came to power and ruled the
Caliphate until 1258.
– 3. They provided renewed religious leadership
which was derived from the Sassanids.
– 4. Baghdad was the center of Abbasid culture
and saw an acceleration of the rate of
conversion of non-Muslim peoples and

C. Political Fragmentation 850-1050
– 1. Abbasid power began to decline because the caliphs found
it impossible to control their vast territory.
– 2. Difficulty of transportation and communications.
– 3. Dissatisfaction of the non-Muslim provincial populations
with a political and economic system that was centered in
Baghdad.
– 4. Slave troops known as Malmuks took over the government
during the late 9th century and held it until 945 when the
Iranian Shi’ite Buyids took control.
– 5. Other groups began to gain power such as the Samanids in
Bukhara and the Fatimids in Egypt.
– 6. In Spain the Umayyads held control over a diverse
population and saw substanial urbanization, introduction of
citrus crops, a diverse irrigated, agricultural sector, and a
florescence of Muslim and Jewish intellectual activity.
– 7. However, there was continuity with the strong sense of
religious identity preserved by the religious scholars, the
ulama.
The Alhambra

D. Assault from Within and Without 1050-1258
– 1. The Seljuk Turks, took advantage of the
weakness of the Abbasids to establish the Suljuk
Sultanate.
– 2. They ruled a territory from Afghanistan to
Baghdad and took Anatolia from the Byzantines in
1071.
– 3. Turkish depredations, the deterioration of the
Tigris-Euphrates irrigation system, insufficient
revenue, and insufficient food resources led to the
collapse of the city of Baghdad.
– 4. The Crusades also put some pressure on the
Islamic lands, but the Muslims were able to unite
under Saladin and drove the Christians out.
However, Saladin’s descendants were not able to
restore unity and order to the Islamic world and it
was hit by another Turkish invasion in1250 and by
the Mongol invasions of the 13th century.
The Crusaders
III. Islamic Civilization
 A.
Law and Dogma
– 1. Shari’a was Islamic law.
– 2. The most important source of the
law was the traditions of the
Prophet(sunna) as revealed in
reports(hadith) about his words or
deeds.
– 3. The Shari’a held that all Muslims are
brothers and sisters and shared the
same moral values.
 B.
Converts and Cities
– 1. People found that the best way to learn
about Islam was to move to the wealthy,
expanding urban areas where the
population was concentrated.
– 2. Cities provided an expanding market for
agricultural and manufactured products
and contributed to an increase in trade.
– 3. In medicine and astronomy Muslim
scholars surpassed the work of the Greek
and Hellenistic civilizations and developed
far more advanced skills and theories than
those of Christian Europe
 C.
Islam, Women, and Slaves
– 1. Women were veiled and secluded.
– 2. Women’s rights included the right to
inherit and own property, to retain it in
marriage, right to divorce, to remarry, to
testify in court, and to go on pilgrimage.
– 3. Biggest fear centered around
Muhammad’s young wife A’isha illustrate
what Muslim’s feared most about women;
infidelity and meddling in politics.
– 4. Islam did not permit homosexuality.
– 5. Were not permitted to enslave their
fellow Muslims, Jews, Christians, or
Zoroastrians except when taken as
prisoners of war.
 D.
The Recentering of Islam
– 1. During the 12th and 13th centuries
the madrasas(religious colleges) and the
Sufi brotherhoods developed.
– 2. Sufi brotherhoods were mystic
fraternities whose members sought
union with God through rituals and
training.
– 3. Also provided members with spiritual
guidance and rules for everyday life.
IV. Comparative Perspectives
 A.
Similarities Between Sassanid
and Roman Empires
– 1. Both empires forged strong relations
between the ruler and the dominant
religion.
– 2. Citizens began to identify themselves
more with religion that ruler.
– 3. Allowed Muhammad to begin
commanding both political and religious
loyalty.
 B.
Comparing Local and Universal
Islam
– 1. The concept of umma united all
Muslims in a universal community.
– 2. New religious institutions such as the
madrasas and Sufi brotherhoods also
provided a sense of community for
Muslims as they carried Islam into new
regions.