Transcript 14. The Expansive Realm of Islam

Chapter 14
The Expansive Realm of Islam
1
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Muhammad and His Message




Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca
Orphaned as a child
Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as merchant
Familiarity with paganism, Christianity and
Judaism as practiced in Arabian peninsula
2
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation




Visions c. 610 CE
Archangel Gabriel
Monotheism
Attracts followers to Mecca
3
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Quran



Record of revelations received during visions
Committed to writing c. 650 CE (Muhammad dies
632)
Tradition of Muhammad’s life: hadith
4
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Conflict at Mecca



Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings offensive to
polytheistic pagans
Economic threat to existing religious industry
Denunciation of greed affront to local aristocracy
5
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Hijra

Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) 622 CE




Year 0 in Muslim calendar
Organizes followers into communal society (the umma)
Legal, spiritual code
Commerce, raids on Meccan caravans for sake of umma
6
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The “Seal of the Prophets”


Islam as culmination and correction of Judaism,
Christianity
Inheritor of both Jewish and Christian texts
7
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Muhammad’s Return to Mecca



Attack on Mecca, 630
Conversion of Mecca to Islam
Destruction of pagan sites, replaced with mosques


Ka’aba preserved in honor of importance of Mecca
Approved as pilgrimage site
8
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Ka’aba
9
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Five Pillars of Islam





No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet
Daily prayer
Fasting during Ramadan
Charity
Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
10
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Muslims at Prayer
11
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Jihad

“struggle”



Against vice
Against ignorance of Islam
“holy war”
12
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Islamic Law: The Sharia



Codification of Islamic law
Based on Quran, hadith, logical schools of
analysis
Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human
activity
13
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Caliph



No clear to successor to Muhammad identified
Abu Bakr chosen to lead as Caliph
Led war against villagers who abandoned Islam
after death of Muhammad
14
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Expansion of Islam


Highly successful attacks on Byzantine, Sassanid
territories
Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory
15
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The expansion of Islam, 632-733 C.E.
16
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Shia




Disagreements over selection of caliphs
Ali passed over for Abu Bakr
Served as caliph 656-661 CE, then assassinated along
with most of his followers
Remaining followers organize separate party called
“Shia”

Traditionalists: Sunni
17
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Shi’ite Pilgrims at Karbala
18
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE)



From Meccan merchant class
Capital: Damascus, Syria
Associated with Arab military aristocracy
19
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Policy toward Conquered Peoples




Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes
discontent
Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims
Head tax (jizya) on non-Muslims
Umayyad luxurious living causes further decline
in moral authority
20
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)



Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, nonArab Muslims
Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia
Defeats Umayyad army in 750

Invited Umayyads to banquet, then massacred them
21
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty




Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not
exclusively Arab)
Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial
expansion
Dar al-Islam
Growth through military activity of autonomous
Islamic forces
22
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Abbasid Administration



Persian influence
Court at Baghdad
Influence of Islamic scholars (ulama, qadi)
23
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE)



High point of Abbasid dynasty
Baghdad center of commerce
Great cultural activity
24
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Abbasid Decline





Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid
Provincial governers assert regional independence
Dissenting sects, heretical movements
Abbasid caliphs become puppets of Persian nobility
Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real power behind
the throne
25
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Economy of the Early Islamic World

Spread of food and industrial crops



Western diet adapts to wide variety
New crops adapted to different growing seasons



Trade routes from India to Spain
Agricultural sciences develop
Cotton, paper industries develop
Major cities emerge
26
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Formation of a Hemispheric Trading
Zone


Historical precedent of Arabic trade
Dar al-Islam encompasses silk routes



ice exported from Syria to Egypt in summer, 10th
century
Camel caravans
Maritime trade
27
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Banking and Trade

Scale of trade causes banks to develop



Sakk (“check”)
Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar alIslam promotes trade
Joint ventures common
28
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain)


Muslim Berber conquerors from North Africa
take Spain, early 8th c.
Allied to Umayyads, refused to recognize Abbasid
dynasty


Formed own caliphate
Tensions, but interrelationship
29
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Changing Status of Women

Quran improves status of women



Outlawed female infanticide
Brides, not husbands, claim dowries
Yet male dominance preserved



Patrilineal descent
Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden
Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice
30
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Formation of an Islamic Cultural
Tradition

Islamic values




Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam
Establishment of madrasas
Importance of the Hajj
Sufi missionaries



Asceticism, mysticism
Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians
Wide popularity
31
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)


Major Sufi thinker from Persia
Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of
Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy instead
32
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.
Cultural influences on Islam

Persia



Adminstration and governance
literature
India

Mathematics, science, medicine


“Hindi” numbers
Greece


Philosophy, esp. Aristotle
Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)
33
Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.