Transcript The Origins of Islam - Middletown High School

THE WORLD’S HISTORY
Fourth Edition
Chapter
11
Islam
Submission to Allah:
Muslim Civilization
Bridges the World
570 c.e.- 1500 c.e.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Islam
• Islam means “submission” in Arabic
• Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and
deeds (hadith) are basis of Islam
• Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s
life are fulfilled in the life of a community
(the umma)
• Combination of religion and government
makes Islam similar to empires
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Origins of Islam
• The Prophet: His Life and Teaching
– Visited by Angel Gabriel in 610 C.E. at age
forty; visits continued for twenty years
– After Muhammad’s death, his words were
memorized and written down as the Quran
– Quran regarded as absolute, uncorrupted
word of God
– Discovery of paper and printing speeds the
spread of the Quran
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Origins of Islam
• The Five Pillars of Islam
– Declaring the Creed
– Praying five times a day facing Mecca
– Giving alms to the poor
– Fasting each day during Ramadan
– Making a hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Origins of Islam
• The Five Pillars of Islam [cont.]
– Jihad (sacred struggle) sometimes called the
“sixth pillar”
 For some it means the extension of Muslim lands
(dar al-Islam)
 For others it means personal struggle
– Faithful Muslims will attain paradise
– Many parallels among Islam, Judaism, and
Christianity
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Origins of Islam
• Responses to Muhammad
– Residents of Mecca found his moral teachings
too demanding and questioned his mental
stability
– Meccan Christians and Jews did not believe
their monotheism needed purification
– Death of many of first-generation followers
caused remainder to relocate
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Origins of Islam
• Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
– The Hijira and the Islamic Calendar
 Muhammad invited to Medina to adjudicate dispute
 Flight to Medina (622 C.E.) known as hijira and is
Year One of the Islamic calendar
 Converted many in Medina but not Jews
 Created religious community (umma) interlocked
with Islamic government (dar al Islam)
 Formulated legal code based on the Quran
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Origins of Islam
• Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
– Muhammad Extends His Authority
 Warfare between early Muslims and Mecca with
Muhammad ultimately winning in 630 C.E.
 Muslims destroyed Meccan idols, captured Ka’aba,
and turned it and its sacred black rock into Islmaic
shrine
 By time of Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims
were well on their way to creating an Arabia-wide
federation dedicated to faith and the political
structure of Islam
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Origins of Islam
• Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
– Connections to Other Monotheistic Faiths
 Muslims claim Abraham (Hebrew) as the first
Muslim and see Jews, Christians, and Muslims as
“children of Abraham”
 Accept earlier prophets including Jesus as people
whose ideas were later corrupted by followers
 Believe there will be no further revelations
 Christians and Jews allowed to practice their faith
but were subject to a special tax
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Successors to the Prophet
• Problem of successor to Muhammad
initially met by election of close associates
as caliph
• Military successes spread Islam:
Damascus in 636 and Jerusalem in 638
• Administered conquered lands with
garrison towns which were unstable
• Islam an empire or a religion?
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Successors to the Prophet
• Religious Conflict and Sunni-Shi’a Division
– Should caliph be from Muhammad’s family
[Shi’ites] or from Ummayid clan of recent
caliphs [Sunni] ?
– Two Shi’a caliphs were assassinated and war
broke out (680); eleven Shi’a imams or
caliphs were assassinated in all
– Shi’a wanted imam to model religious
principles; opponents saw post as political
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Successors to the Prophet
• Religious Conflict and the Sunni-Shi’a
Division [cont.]
– Hereditary line of Muhammad’s family ended
with the disappearance of the “twelfth imam”
– Office of caliph no longer exists but dispute
continues
– 83% of Muslims are Sunni today
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Successors to the Prophet
• Umayyad Caliphs Build an Empire
– Urban life eroded tribal life, created class
differences, and mixed Arab and non-Arab
elites
– Used Byzantine and Persian governing
practices
– Revolts from 740s onward but some military
victories including Talas River (751), which
halted Chinese advance westward
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Successors to the Prophet
• The Third Civil War and the Abbasid
Caliphs
– From northern Iran Abbasids claimed
caliphate in 750
– Continued imperial quest of the Umayyids
– Abbasids successfully ruled empire for a
century with centralized administration and
good local relations
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Successors to the Prophet
• The Weakening of the Caliphate
– Abbasids faced succession issues and civil
war
– Began to rely more on slave troops
– Civilian administration became more corrupt
– Tax collection became exploitive
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Successors to the Prophet
• The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]
– The Emergence of Quasi-Independent States
 Distance of rulers from people prompted revolts
 Ismaili and Shi’ite leaders promoted rebellion
 In 945 rebels took control of Baghdad and
effectively ended the empire, but allowed Abbasids
to continue to rule in name only
 Arrival of Seljuk Turks led to creation of sultanate
over government while Abbasids administered the
religious side (1055)
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Successors to the Prophet
• The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]
– Mongols and the Destruction of the Caliphate
 Temujin (later called Chinngis Khan) forged
alliance with Turks and built extensive empire
 Hulegu conquered Baghdad (1258) and executed
Abbasid caliph
 Death of Hulegu’s brother and military defeat
ended expansion of Mongol empire
 Muslims continued to expand and win converts
despite military defeats
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Fall of Caliphate in 1258 meant fall of
umma
• Some scholars saw this as decline of
Islam
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Others point to continued spread of Islam
and its acceptance by Mongol
descendents
• Current distribution of Muslims shows
presence in areas never reached by
Caliph or converted after end of caliphate
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Islam Reaches New Peoples
– India
 Muslim raids into India led to conquest of Delhi by
1211 and creation of Delhi Sultanate (1211-1526)
 Controlled subcontinent by 1335
 Most Muslim rulers accommodated Hinduism
 Converts to Islam escaped “untouchable” status
 Many Muslims were near the top of the social
hierarchy
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]
– Southeast Asia
 Most conversions occurred in 14-15th centuries
– Sub-Saharan Africa
 Islam arrived via traders and Sufis
 Ghana was major trading center, rival of Arabs
 Traders converted to Islam; masses in 19th
century
 Wave of conversions accompanied defeat of
Ghana by Almoravids
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]
– Sub-Saharan Africa [cont.]
 Mansa Musa of Mali, orthodox Muslim, made hajj in
1324 and revealed wealth of area
 Timbuktu a major center of learning
 Spread of Islam into East Africa met fierce
resistance in Christian Ethiopia
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Law Provides an Institutional Foundation
– Legal system of Islam, shari’a, survived fall of
caliph
– Can use any of a group of legal
interpretations
 Abu Hanifah, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad al-Shafii,
Ahmed ibn Hanbal
 Exercise primary influence in different regions
– Laws administered by religious scholars
(ulama)
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Sufis Provide Religious Mysticism
– The Role of Mysticism
 Rose as rejection of materialism of Umayyad
 Sufis enabled followers to experience God directly
 Sufis attracted adherents with simplicity
 Some emphasized ecstatic practices while others
were more sober and meditative
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Intellectual Achievements
– History
 Formal history introduced by al-Tabari (c. 839-923)
 Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was first to apply social
science theory to the understanding of history
 Favored cyclical view of history where new waves
of invasion introduced new cycles of history
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Intellectual Achievements [cont.]
– Philosophy
 Encountered philosophy from Greeks and Indians
 Attracted to Platonism and neo-Platonism
 Mutazilites argued that Quran should be seen as
metaphorical, not literal, word of God
 Enabled Christian and Jewish philosophers to
encounter Greek and Indian texts
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• Intellectual Achievements [cont.]
– Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine
 Astronomy texts from India to Baghdad by 770
 al-Khwarazmi (d. c. 846) developed algebra
 Medical cures were spread around the empire
 Qanum fi’l-tibb (Canon of Medicine) of ibn Sina (d.
1037) dominated Christian medical thinking for
three hundred years
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• The Extension of Technology
– Islam a communication network connecting all
major Eurasia civilizations
– Exchanged information with all of them
– Agricultural exchange extensive
– Used irrigation to offset absence of monsoon
rains prevalent in India, source of many new
crops
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural
Flowering
• City Design and Architecture
– Muslim governments built great cities
– Mosques were a necessary element of every
city and neighborhood
– Writings of Ibn Battuta underscore link
between cities, commerce, and travel
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Relations with Non-Muslims
• Dhimmi Status
– Three choices for non-Muslim in Muslim state
 Conversion
 Dhimmi Status
•
•
•
•
For worshippers of one God who accepted Muslim rule
Status defined by The Pact of Umar (634-644)
Paid special tax but could worship in their own faith
Couldn’t build new churches, seek converts, wear
Muslim clothing, or build houses higher than Muslim
houses
 Fight against the Muslim state
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Relations with Non-Muslims
• The Crusades (1095-1291)
– Called by Pope Urban II at request of Alexius I
– Were political as much as religious efforts
– Early crusades were successful and brutal
– European crusaders were mercenaries
– Crusades could capture but not hold holy
places of Christianity
– Crusades divided Christianity along east-west
lines
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Relations with Non-Muslims
• A Golden Age in Spain
– Berbers revitalized Spanish culture and broke
Byzantine control of trade in western
Mediterranean
– End of Spanish caliphate (1030) opened door
to start of Christian reconquista
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Relations with Non-Muslims
• A Golden Age in Spain [cont.]
– Rich hybrid culture survived in midst of
reconquista
– Ferdinand and Isabella defeated Muslims in
1492 and expel Jews from Spain; Muslims
follow
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam:
What Difference Do They Make?
• Sources of friction among religions with
common heritage
– Are proselytizing religions in search of
converts
– Each sought to be the government in its areas
of predominance
– Each became identified with a specific
geographic region
– But there was also peaceful coexistence
The World’s History, Fourth Edition
Howard Spodek
Copyright ©2010, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.