Transcript Early Islam & the World…cont.

The Islamic Caliphates
ARAB
ISLAMIC
Historic Period Review
• Ancient Period
• Classical Period
• Post-Classical Period
Rise of Islam
• Umma- Muslim Religious Community
– Imam
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Qur’an (koran)
Hadith
Shari’a Law
Five Pillars of Islam
– Confession of Faith
– Prayer
– Fasting
– Alms
– Hajj
Rise of the Caliph
• The Caliph
– Theocracy
– Growth of Islam linked to growth of it’s Empire
• Abu Bakr
– First Caliph
– Sunnis vs. Shia
– Umar, Uthman, and Ali Followed
• Ali assassinated, makes way for Umayyad
Dynasty
The Umayyad Dynasty
• New Capital
– Mecca Remains Spiritual Center
• Arabic Becomes official Language
• Standard Money Unit
– Gold and Silver Coin
• Subjects “encouraged to convert”
– Extra tax on those who did not convert
• Enormous Expansion
– Charles Martel stops Muslims at Spain
The Dome of the Rock
Rise of Abbasid Dynasty
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750 to 1258 A.D.
Abu al-Abbas
Shi’a and Mawali were his allies.
Mawali (Islamic converts) also supported him to
gain acceptance in the community of believers.
• Battle of River Zab
• “Reconciliation Banquet”
– Bad day for the Umayyad
• 750 A.D. Abbasid replaced Umayyad in all
areas except Spain
Early Abbasid Era
• Began to reject Shi’a and Malawi allies
– Defended Sunni Islam.
• Built a centralized, absolutist imperial order.
• New capital: Baghdad “The Round City” on Tigris
River
– Baghdad became the richest city in the
world (only Constantinople came close)
• Golden Age
– Sat on jeweled thrones. Had palaces and harems! Image
of elitism was important.
• For more than a century, able to collect revenue and
preserve law over much of the empire.
AbbasidArt
Islamic Conversion and Mawali
Acceptance
• Mass conversions to Islam were
encouraged throughout the empire.
• Tolerant of other cultures/traditions
• Sufis
• Most converts were won over peacefully
because of appeal of Islamic beliefs and
advantages they enjoyed:
- didn’t have to pay head tax
- educational opportunities
- jobs as traders, administrators, judges
Town & Country: Commercial
Boom and Agrarian Expansion
• Abbasid Era was a great time of urban
expansion and growth of merchant and
landlord classes.
– Tang & Song Dynasties in China were also
reviving middle merchant class. (results of
falls of Rome/Han)
• Arab DHOWS - trading vessels with
triangular (lateen) sails were used from
Mediterranean to S. China Sea. This style
later influenced European ship design.
Town & Country: Commercial Boom
and Agrarian Expansion, cont..
• Hospitals and medical care
– Abn al-Sina (Avicenna)
– Mohammad al-Razi
• Credit System
– Itemized Receipts and Bills
• Much unskilled labor was left to slaves.
– Some slaves were able rise to positions of
power and gain freedom
– Huge estates might have slaves, indentured
servants or sharecroppers.
The First Flowering of Islamic Learning
• Early contributions from Abbasid were great
mosques and palaces. Ex: Dome of the Rock
• Advances in religious, legal and philosophical
discourse.
• Science and Math! Abbasid scholars preserved
Greek works of medicine, algebra, geometry,
astronomy, anatomy, and ethics.
• Arabic traders in India carried the Indian number
system across Mediter. and into Northern Europe.
These number systems became ESSENTIAL to
Scientific Revolution in W. Europe.
Global Connections:
Early Islam & the World…cont.
• In the midst of achievement, Muslims were
people that had some growing disadvantages,
especially to Europeans.
• Muslim divisions would leave openings for
political problems.
Growing intolerance and orthodoxy led to the belief
that the vast Islamic world contained all
requirements for civilized life, which caused Muslim
people to grow less receptive to outside influence
and innovations…led to isolation at a time when
Christian rivals were in a period of experimentation
and exploration.
Decline of the Caliphates
• Internal Struggles and Civil War
– Sunnis vs. Shia
– Different Ethnic Groups
• Destabilized Central Power
– Threats from Seljuk Turks, Persians,
Europeans and Byzantines
• Mongols deal final blow
– 1258 overran Islamic Empire and destroyed
Baghdad
• Ottoman Turks