Transcript Slide 1

The Rise and Spread of Islam
Essential Questions
1. Why were the small nomadic tribes of Arabia able to unite under the
leadership of Muhammad and other early Muslim leaders?
2. Why were Arab armies able to prevail so rapidly over the large Byzantine
Roman Empire, Sassanid Persia, and other seemingly more
powerful civilizations?
3. What are the central beliefs of Islam, and why was it able to appeal to so
many non-Arabs once the Arab Muslim armies had conquered them?
4. Why was the problem of determining the successors to Muhammad so great
for Muslims, and how did it shape the way the religion evolved?
5. Why were Muslims during the Abbasid Caliphate able to advance so far
culturally and intellectually in so many areas?
6. What forces led to growing weakness and decline in Muslim societies in the
latter centuries of Abbasid rule?
Arabia in the Seventh Century
People of Arabia
• Nomads/Bedouins
• Farmers
• Traders
• Tribes
Paganism
• Worshipped many gods
• Chief god was Allah,
meaning simply,
“the God”
Al-Uzza
Jews in Arabia
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Adopted Arab customs
of dress and language
• Arabs influenced by
Jewish beliefs
Christians in Arabia
• Nearby Syrian,
Mesopotamian, and
Abyssianian Christians
• Najran in Yemen
• Some tribes converted
• Different sects
• Tended to be
monophysitics
Mecca
Kaaba
• Large black cube
• Housed 360 idols
• Focus of pilgrimages
during holy month
of Ramadan
Kaaba
Trade Routes