Transcript The Umayyad Empire

THE UMAYYAD EMPIRE
By Seth Archer and Jaehyeong Lee
Block 4B, AP World History, Mr. Cleland
9/23/10
Quraysh
Bedouin Tribe
and the
Umayyad Clan
•Founded Mecca
•Wealth of the Meccan
merchants enhanced Ka’ba
in the city.
• Ka’ba attracted people
into the city – this means
that the merchant have
more people to sell to.
http://morrisonworldnews.com/?p=24147
Umayyad Expansion
•The expansion of the Islamic
empire spread because of the
weakness of the Arabs.
• Conquered in Mesopotamia,
Africa and Persia
•
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/faceoft
heprophet/images/islamicpath.gif
The land added to Islamic
Empire was controlled by
Arab elites
• They were appointed by the
Umayyads.
• Didn’t care for the people
they ruled.
Ali (the current
Caliph) and the
Umayyads
•Battle of the Camel (655)
•Ali won, many Arabs sided with him against Umayyads
•Umayyads center: Mecca and Provinces of Syria
•Ali almost defeated Umayyads, Battle of Siffin (657),
decided to meditate.
•
•
•
Cost him many followers
Umayyads regrouped forces, added Egypt to
provinces (backed their claims)
Mu’awiya: new leader of Umayyads
•
•
http://www.kidspast.com/images/ali.jpg
Proclaimed caliph in Jerusalem directly challenged Ali
Year later :Ali assassinated, Umayyads pressured son
Hasan to renounce claims to Caliph
Ali (the current
Caliph) and the
Umayyads
•Decades later, Sunnis/Shiites developed
•
Sunnis  Umayyad
•
Shiites  Ali
• Shiites recognize only Caliph Ali.
•
None of the earlier caliphs.
•Sunnis vs. Shiites
•
Who will succeed Muhammad?
•Both grow farther apart:
•
Difference in opinion;
• Ritual laws
• Beliefs
•Shiites are even more subdivided due to break-off sects.
•Sunnis/Shiites still remain today.
http://www.hf.uib.no/i/religion/popular
ikonografi/bilder/01b.jpg
Ali (the current
Caliph) and the
Umayyads
•Tensions rise between the Hasayn and
the Umayyad
•
•
•
Hasayn were abandoned by clans in
southern Iraq that had promised to
support him.
Hasayn and a small party were
assassinated by the Umayyads in
680
Because of Hasayn’s murder, the
Shiites mounted sustained
resistance against the Umayyads
The Umayyad Empire
•During the last half of the 7th
century Muslim armies broke into
central Asian and spread Islam
throughout.
•Rivaled Buddhism.
•By the 8th century Islam had
spread down into Northwest India
•The western Muslim armies swept
through Northern Africa to take
Spain and Threaten France.
•Muslim Warriors and Sailors
dominated the Mediterranean
http://religions.iloveindia.com/images/bu
ddhism.jpg
•Conquered key islands like Sicily,
Crete and Sardinia by the 9th
century.
The Umayyad Empire
•The empire spanned from Spain in the west to
the Steppes of Central Asia
•
No other Empire had ever
been this big since the
Romans
• None had grown this
Rapidly.
•Mecca still remained the holy center but the
politics shifted to Damascus in Syria.
•
http://www.pakistanpatriot.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/09/islam_mapummayads.jpg?w=128
In Damascus a Umayyad
bureaucracy formed to help
keep control of the vast
domain the Muslims had
captured,
The Umayyad Empire
•Muslim Arabs
•
Only they could be at the top of
the social classes
• Only they received a part of the
booty from the ongoing
conquests.
• They comprised most of the
Muslim army
• The Umayyads kept the warriors in
garrison towns so that the warriors
wouldn’t marry non Muslims and
convert them limiting the number of
people the Muslims could tax.
The Umayyad Empire
•Muslim Arabs (cont.)
•
Recent converts, or Malawi, still had
to pay property tax and sometimes
they even had to pay jizya, or the tax
on non-Muslims.
• They also didn’t receive any of the booty
• They couldn’t get positions politically or
Militarily
• Not accepted as part of the Umayyads
• Number of converts low because of this
•
http://www.loveisanorientation.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/08/Bible.jpg
Dhimmi
• “people of the book”
• This originally meant Christians and Jews
who had a holy book but it spread to
accommodate everyone that wasn’t
Muslim.
• They had to pay Jizya.
The funny thing about all this is:
•Muhammad married his wife
•Who was 15 years older than
him
•Was his employer(ette)
•And Kadijah (the wife) asked
Muhammad to marry her,
•AND NOBODY
DISAGREED!!! (muslims,
family, nobody.)
•Now, history goes on to say the
Koran that Muhammad wrote led
to more and more restrictions on
freedom, but his wife still owned a
business, was able to remarry, and
could inherit his property.
•What an ironic couple.
AN INTERESTING
FACT…
While praying towards Mecca, Muslim men
gather on the outside of and center of the
mosque.
Women pray in the sides, back, or screened
balconies (by pillars) or carved panels in the
walls.
Key Point: They worship separately.
Family and Gender Roles
 Women
- More recognized and powerful
- Often accompanied the Military
- Scribes
-Muhammad’s wives compiled the Qur’an
-Pursued Careers (Scholarship, Law, and
Commerce)
Family and Gender Roles
 Muhammad



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Promoted kindness and fairness for women
Encouraged Marriage instead of sexual liaisons
Denounced adultery
Allowed daughters to have a say in who they
married
 Bride price paid to bride instead of the brides
father
Men allowed 4 Wives and women not allowed
multiple husbands.
Umayyad decline and Fall
 Caliphs
 Lazy & accustom to luxury
 This angered some Muslims
 Not like Muhammad
 Sparked small uprisings throughout the Empire.
Umayyad decline and Fall
 Merv
 50,000 frontier warriors
 Married locals
 Not receiving Booty
 New troops sent from Damascus
 Started great revolt throughout the empire
 Started Marching under a black banner and the Abbasid Party
 Leader: Abu al-Abbas
 Support from Shiites and Mawali
 Met the Umayyads at the Battle of the River Zab
 They won!
 Captured the capitol city of the Umayyads
 Invited to dinner and slaughtered
 One escaped
Overall
Theme/Importance
in World History
•Importance:
•Would eventually cover 5 million square miles,
largest empire to its time.
•The 5th largest continuous empire ever.
•The largest Arab-Muslim state in history.
•Established Arabic as the administrative
language in their time.
•Created famous monuments like the Dome of the
Rock in Jerusalem and the Umayyad Mosque in
Damascus.
•Were negatively looked at by purists of Islam.
However, the Umayyad Empire never looked at
themselves as messengers, but “deputies”.
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Caliphate
Key terms
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Caliph- the political and religious successor to Muhammad.
Abu Bakr- one of Muhammad’s earliest followers and closest friends and caliph from 632-634.
Ridda Wars- Wars that followed Muhammad’s death in 632; resulted in defeat of rival prophets
and some of larger clans; restored unity of Islam.
Bedouin- Nomadic pastoralists of the Arabian Peninsula; culture based on camel and goat
nomadism; early converts to Islam.
Jihads- struggle; often used for wars in defense of the faith.
Zoroastrianism- Animist religion that saw material existence as battle between forces of good
and evil; stressed the importance of moral choice; righteous lived after death in “House of Song”;
chief religion of Persian Empire.
Copts- Christian sect of Egypt; tended to support Islamic invasions of this area in preference to
Byzantine rule.
Nestorians- A Christian sect found in Asia; tended to support Islamic invasions of the area in
preference to Byzantine rule; cut off from Europe by Muslim invasions.
Uthman- Third caliph and member of Umayyad clan; murdered by mutinous warriors returning
from Egypt; death set off civil war in Islam between followers of Ali and the Umayyad clan.
Battle of Siffin- fought in 657 between forces of Ali and Umayyads; settled by negotiation that led
to fragmentation of Ali’s party.
Key terms part 2
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Mu’awiya- Leader of Umayyad clan; first Umayyad caliph following civil war with
Ali.
Sunnis- Political and theological division within Islam; supported the Umayyads.
Shi’a- Also known as Shi’ites; political and theological division within Islam;
followers of Ali.
Karbala- Site of defeat and death of Husayn, son of Ali; marked beginning of
Shi’a resistence to Umayyad caliphate.
Damascus- Syrian city that was capital of Umayyad caliphate.
Mavali- New Arab converts to Islam.
Jizya- Head tax paid by all nonbelievers in Islamic territories.
Dhimmi- Literally “People of the book”; applied as inclusive term to Jews and
Christians in Islamic territories; later extended to Zoroastrians and even Hindu.
Hadith- traditions of the prophet Muhammad.
Abassid- Dynasty that succeeded the Umayyads; resulted in conquest of Syria
and capture of Umayyad capital.
Battle of the River Zab- Victory of Abassids over Umayyads, resulted in conquer
of Syria and capture of Umayyad capital.