Transcript Ch_ 9 _B_ - The World of Islam

A Misunderstood Religion
Islam in the United States
 By the year 2000, there were over 1200 mosques in the
United States
 About 8million Muslims in the United States
-25% of which are African American
 There are over 1.2billion Muslims in the world today
(most of which live in Asia)
The Birth of a New Religion
 Arabian Peninsula – Home to polytheistic nomads
-Bedouins – Independent tribes and clans
 Arabia
-important center of trade
-Kaaba – religious shrine
-By 600ce – Monotheism spread
– Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism
-Allah is associated with Yaweh
 Quraysh Tribe – Controlled trade and taxed pilgrims
The Prophet
 Muhammad was the prophet (messenger)
-was an orphan
-was a prosperous merchant
-took withdrawal into the desert and wrote down
“god’s words” which is the Quran/Koran
 If you read the Quran in Arabic it is the “message of
god”
New Teachings
 Muhammad is “the seal” of the prophets
 Return to old – pure religion of Abraham
 Submission to Allah
 Muslim = One Who Submits
 Need to create a community of social justice, equality
and care for others
 Community = umma
Mosque
5 Pillars of Islam
 1. The is no other god but Allah
 2. Pray 5 times a day at prescribed times
 3. Give charity to the community
 4. Fast during the month of Ramadan
 5. Take a hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
Kaaba
Islamic Teachings
 Jihad = struggle
 Jihad of the Sword = armed struggle against unbelief
and evil. (justification for terrorism?)
 The interpretation of “jihad of the sword” has varied
widely over time.
Arabian Peninsula Transformed
 In 622 Muhammad took the “hijra” to Medina
 Created the “umma” (community) in Medina
 Broke definitively from Judaism
 Expansion
-military successes led to alliances
-large scale conversion
-Muhammad dies in 632ce and all of Arabia is
consolidated under Islam
Fundamental Differences Between
Islam and Christianity
 Islam did not grow up as a persecuted minority
religion
 No separation of church and state
-Muhammad was political, religious, military leader
 Sharia – Religious Law – Same as the law of the land
An Arab Empire
 The Arab state grew to include all or part of Egyptian,
Roman/Byzantine, Persian, Mesopotamian, and
Indian civilizations.
 Expansion
-defeated Sassanid Empire in the 650s, took half of
Byzantium
-in early 700s, conquered most of Spain, attacked
France
-in 751, Arabs crushed a Chinese army at the Battle of
Talas River
Ottoman Empire
Reasons for Expansion
 economic: capture trade routes and agricultural regions
 communal: conquest helped hold the umma together
 religious: bring righteous government to the conquered
-did not impose Islam
-in early period, Arabs thought Islam was their religion
-by mid-eighth century began seeking converts
-still protected “people of the Book”—Christians, Jews,
Zoroastrians (dhimmis)
-non-Muslims paid special tax (the jizya) but could
practice their own religion
Conversion to Islam
 Initial conversion was “social”, not deeply religious
 Benefits of Conversion
-earliest converts included slaves and prisoners of war
-converts didn’t have to pay the jizya
-Islam favored commerce
-good to be friends of “Allah” (since it was a powerful
empire)
 around 80 percent of the population of Persia
converted between 750 and 900
Divisions in the Islamic World
 Problem – Who should be Muhammad’s successor?
-sunni – leaders elected by the community
-shia – leaders should be blood relatives of
Muhammad
 Sunnis: religious authority comes from the
community,especially from religious scholars (ulama)
 Shias: imams have religious authority
Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasties
 Ummayad Dynasty
-caliphs became hereditary rulers
-decadent rulers and unequal treatment of non-arabs
created unrest
 Abbasid Dynasty
-overthrew the Ummayad in 750ce
-treated non-Muslims much better
-caliphs became sultans of independent states
Abbasid Continued
 Last Abbasid caliph assassinated when Mongols
sacked Baghdad in 1258
 Islamic culture continued to flourish and expand
Sufis
 Mystics seeking direct connection with the divine
 Renounced the material world
 Critical of Sharia and the Quran
 Members of the ulama thought the Sufis were heretics
Gender Roles
 Spiritually
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- Quran states that men and women are equal
Socially
-women are subordinate to men
Women’s Rights
-own property, inherit wealth, consent to marriage
Early Islam – women had many more rights
Modern Islam – can’t attend mosques, must be veiled
-restrictions were put on women during the Abbasid
Dynasty
The Case of India
 Invaders brought Islam to India
 Muslim communities in India
-Buddhists and low caste Hindus found Islam
attractive (equality)
-converted to pay lower taxes
-at height – 20%-25% were Muslim
 Muslim/Hindu Divide
-Monotheism / Polytheism Divide
-equality of all members / caste system
-sexual modesty / open eroticism
Hindu/Muslim Ineractions
 Many Hindu’s served Muslim rulers
 Sikhism developed in early sixteenth century; syncretic
religion with elements of both Islam and Hinduism
 Muslims remained as a distinctive minority
The Case of Anatolia (Turkey)
 Turks invaded Anatolia about the same time as India
-major destruction at early stages in both places
-Sufi missionaries were important in both places
-but in Anatolia by 1500, 90 percent of the population
was Muslim, and most spoke Turkish
The Case of West Africa
 Islam came peacefully with traders, not by conquest
-provided links to Muslim trading partners
-provided literate officials and religious legitimacy to
state
 West African cities became Islamic centers
-Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic schools
-libraries had tens of thousands of books
-Arabic became a language of religion, education,
administration, trade
 rulers made little effort to impose Islam or rule by
Islamic law
Islam in Africa
The Case of Spain
 Islam did not overwhelm Christianity there
 high degree of interaction between Muslims,
Christians, and Jews
 religious toleration started breaking down by late
tenth century
 increasing war with Christian states of northern Spain
 many Muslims were forced out of Christian-conquered
regions or kept from public practice of their faith
Islam as a New Civilization
 Islamic civilization was held together by Islamic
practices and beliefs
-beliefs/practices transmitted by the ulama, who
served as judges, interpreters, etc.
-starting in eleventh century: formal colleges
(madrassas) taught religion, law, and sometimes
secular subjects
-system of education with common texts, sharing of
scholarship throughout Islamic world
Muslim Borrowing
Astrolabe borrowed
from the Greeks
The number zero was
borrowed from India
allowing for more complex
math and astronomy.
Networks of Exchange
 Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of
goods, technology, and ideas
-great central location for trade
-Islamic teaching valued commerce
-urbanization spurred commerce
 Muslim merchants were prominent on all the major
Afro-Eurasian trade routes
-aided by banking, partnerships, business contracts,
credit instruments
Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo
Networks of Exchange
 Exchange of agricultural products and practices
between regions
-Muslim conquest of northwestern India introduced
rice, sugarcane, sorghum, hard wheat, cotton, and
many fruits and vegetables to Middle East
 Diffusion of technology
-spread ancient Persian water-drilling techniques
-improvement of Chinese rockets
-adoption of papermaking techniques from China in
the eighth century
Exchange of Ideas
 Persian bureaucratic practice, court ritual, poetry
 Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Indian texts
 Developments in mathematics, astronomy, optics,
medicine, pharmacology