Transcript Dar al-Islam - Okemos Public Schools

The Expansive Realm of Islam
Chapter 14
Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation
• Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca
• Orphaned as a child
• Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as
merchant
• Visions c. 610 CE
• Archangel Gabriel
• Monotheism
• Attracts followers to Mecca
The Hijra
• Muhammad’s monotheistic
teachings offensive to
polytheistic pagans
• Economic threat to existing
religious industry
• 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
Muhammad’s
Return to Mecca
• Return to Mecca, 630
CE
• Conversion of Mecca
to Islam
• Replaced pagan sites
with mosques
– Ka’aba preserved in
honor of importance of
Mecca
– Approved as
pilgrimage site
The Ka'aba
The Quran
• Record of revelations received during visions
• Committed to writing c. 650 CE (Muhammad
dies 632)
Five Pillars of Islam
• One – Make a declaration of the faith
• Two – Daily Prayer facing Mecca
– Many pray in Mosques or houses of worship
• Three – Charity for the poor
• Four – Fasting during Ramadan
• Five – Pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj
Elements of the Faith
• Sharia: Islamic Holy Law
– Codification of Islamic law
– Based on Quran, hadith, logical schools of analysis
– Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human
activity
• Jihad: “struggle”
– Against vice
– Against ignorance of Islam
Expansion of Islam
• Highly successful attacks on Byzantine,
Sassanid territories
– Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory
• Dar al-Islam
– Lands under Islamic rule
Expansion of Islam
Sunni/Shia/Sufi
• Sunni
• Abu Bakr
• Considered
Traditionalists for
accepting early
Caliphs
• Umayyad were
Sunni
• Shia
• Sufi
• Ali
missionaries
• Remaining
– Asceticism,
followers
mysticism
organize
– Some tension
separate party
with orthodox
called “Shia”
Islamic
• Served as caliph
theologians
656-661 CE,
then assassinated
along with most
of his followers
The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE)
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From Meccan merchant class
Capital: Damascus, Syria
Associated with Arab military aristocracy
Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes
discontent
• Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims
• Tax on non-Muslims
• Umayyad luxurious living causes further
decline in moral authority
The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)
• Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, non-Arab
Muslims
• Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia
• Defeats Umayyad army in 750
• 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
Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)
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Persian influence
Court at Baghdad
Influence of Islamic scholars (ulama, qadi)
Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE)
– High point of Abbasid dynasty
– Baghdad center of commerce
– Great cultural activity
Abbasid Decline
• Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid
• Provincial governors assert regional
independence
• Dissenting sects, heretical movements
• Abbasid caliphs become puppets of Persian
nobility
• Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real
power behind the throne
Economy of Early Islamic World
• Spread of food and industrial crops
– Trade routes from India to Spain
• Western diet adapts to wide variety
• New crops adapted to different growing seasons
– Agricultural sciences develop
– Cotton, paper industries develop
• Major cities emerge
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
Banking and Trade
• Scale of trade causes banks to develop
– Sakk (“check”)
• Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar alIslam promotes trade
• Joint ventures common
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
Cultural influences on Islam
• Persia
– Administration and governance
– literature
• India
– Mathematics, science, medicine
• “Hindi” numbers
• Greece
– Philosophy, esp. Aristotle
– Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)