The Rise of Islam 632 - 1200

1. The Rise of Islam 632 - 1200

2. After Muhammad’s death, Abu Bakr chosen Caliph or successor • Continues belief in 5 Pillars • Continues fight to consolidate Muslim authority in Arabia and non-Arab areas in Iraq. • (630) Orders Muhammad’s secretaries to compile his revelations into a book, the Quran or recitation. • Muslims regard Quran not as words of Muhammad, but as unalterable words of God.

3. Five Pillars

4. Koran

5. Wars of Succession • After much political intrigue, the Sunnis establish the Umayyad Caliphate. • Husayn (Shiia) revolts in 680 to reestablish the right of Ali’s family to rule. • Husayn and his family are killed by forces loyal to the caliph.

6. Rise & Fall of the Caliphate, 632 - 1258 • Arab conquests outside Arabia • Syria & Egypt from Byzantine Empire • 711 Tunisia & Spain by Arab led army composed of Berbers. • 1000s conquest of India, Anatolia • Also exported peacefully by trade in sub Saharan Africa.

7. Decision made to prohibit Arab armies from owning conquered territories - do get regular pay & “booty.” • Live in large camps in Iraq, Egypt & Tunisia • Preserves status quo in countryside where non Arab locals do not understand Arabic • Self isolating ruling minority lives on taxes on non-Muslims - thus no incentive for missionary outreach

8. Umayyad rule from Damascus • Adopt administrative practices of Sasanid & Byzantine predecessors

9. Umayyad Caliphate falls in 750 • Non Arab converts resented inequality • Arabs of Iraq resent Syrian influence in political affairs. • Pious Muslims felt caliphs were irreligious • Shiites attacked Umayyad family's legitimacy. (One rebellion brings down Umayyad. However, one branch escapes to Spain and establishes kingdom).

10. Abbasid Caliphate 750 - 1258 • Starts as Shiite soon becomes Sunni. • Seat of power was transferred from Syria to Iraq with the building of the city of Baghdad. Administration was placed in the hands of the Persian Barmakid family • Sasanid Persian models of court etiquette and government were introduced into the Abbasid style of rulership.

11. Increasingly non Arabs convert • Greek, Persian, African & Central Asians convert leading to a more secular & urbanized rule. • Desert traditions replaced by poetry, wine & the like • The reign of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) is widely regarded as the apex of Abbasid power and achievement. Often referred to as a “Golden Age”. Great works from Greek, Persian & Indian are translated

12. Scherazade & Gold Dinar

13. Signs of Weakness • Influence of regime is minimal in countryside • Egypt stays mainly Coptic • Iran never adopts Arabic as spoken language • Berber speaking N. Africans rebel & leave

14. 850 - 1050 Political Fragmentation as Caliph slowly losses power • Breakaway groups don’t repudiate Islam, but do cut tax revenue • Lacking trust in troops from the provinces, Caliph uses Turkic slaves from central Asia called Mamluks. • When unpaid can unseat Caliph. • Move from Baghdad to Samsara strengthens Mamluks

15. Samarra

16. Weakening from Inside • Even in Iraq Abbasid authority was fading. Extravagant expenditures, an inflated bureaucracy, and dwindling revenues produced financial chaos. The caliphs attempted to solve this problem by granting tax-farms to governors and military commanders, thus effectively decentralizing and reducing Abbasid authority

17. Shiite Control • In 945, the Buyid Mu`izz al-Dawla entered Baghdad, and the title "Commander of Commanders" and control of the Abbasid seat of power passed into the hands of a Shi`ite dynasty

18. Important Non Arabic Literature • Written in Persian with Arabic letters • Growth in outlying provinces paralled caliphate’s decline. • 875 Samanids - Iranian family established a glittering court in Bukhara, a major city on the Silk Road in what is now Uzbekistan.

19. Bukhara

20. Bukhara II

21. In N. Africa Berber Revolts against Arabs 740 • Led to establishment of city states of Sijilmasa and Tahert whose trade with southern Sahara in salt and eventually gold makes them wealthy.

22. Sijilmasa: Medieval City of Gold

23. Ghana • Earliest winner of gold trade. This “land of gold” prospered until 1076 when it was conquered by nomads.

24. North African city states conquered by Fatamid Dynasty • Established in Tunisia 909. • Conquer Egypt in 969 & claim title of caliph in challenge to Abassid. • Wealth of gold trade establishes Egypt as major center of Islamic culture.

25. Al-Andalus • Umayyad Spain distinctive culture blending Roman, Germanic, Jewish, Arab & Berber traditions. • Cordoba, Seville & Toledo governing cities • New citrus crops & advanced irrigation gives it best agriculture in Europe

26. Al-Andalus • Some of greatest writers & thinkers in Jewish history worked in Muslim Spain such as Halevi & Maimonides. • At same time Islamic thought also flourished. Ibn Hazm, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) are examples.

27. Decline From the time of the Buyid occupation of Baghdad until its destruction by the Mongols in 1258, the Abbasid caliphate remained a purely formal institution After the dissolution of the Buyids in the mid-eleventh century, their place was filled by the Turkish Seljuks, who took the title of Sultan.

28. Seljuk Turks • Their rule reunified the Muslim state from Syria to Tranoxiana and stamped out the last Shi`ite revolutionary movements in the area of their control; these actions helped to enhance the prestige of the caliphate against their Fatimid rivals in Egypt.

29. Under Sunni Turkish rule • Cities shrank, irrigation works suffered, tax revenue fell. • Seljuks decline around time First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099. • New Empire led by Kurdish Saladin take control of Egypt & Syria after Fatamid Dynasty fell.

30. Saladin’s dynasty ends when, in 1250, Turkish Mamluk troops seized control of Cairo • Mamluks defeat Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 • Rule Egypt & Syria until 1517

31. End of Abassid Caliphate • With the breakup of the Seljuq sultanate in the twelfth century, a power vacuum was left in Iraq enabled the caliph al-Nasir (1180-1225) to make an attempt to restore Abbasid power. However, his successors were incompetent, and the last caliph in Iraq, al-Mu`tasim, was unable to offer any resistance to the Mongols when they arrived in Baghdad in 1258.

32. Islamic Civilization • Shari’a - the law of Islam is the foundation of their civilization. • Hadith - studying precise words or deeds of Muhammad help back the Shari’a. Sunnis have 6 books of hadiths; Shi’ites 4. • Shari’a important basis for urban lifestyle that varied little from Morocco to India

33. Conversion • Some convert to “get ahead” • Others convert to escape tax on non - Muslims • Some convert from learning about new rulers religion. • Also, conversion is easy. Simply state belief in front of a Muslim

34. Science & technology flourish • Doctors and astronomers building on Hellenistic traditions & their own observations exceed Europeans.

35. Islam, Women & Slaves • Seclusion of women & veiling in public already existed in Sasanid & Byzantine times. Now they become fixtures of Muslim life. • A man could have sex with as many slave concubines as he wished, in addition to marrying as many as 4 wives.

36. Islamic law gave women greater status than Christian or Jewish law. • Could remarry & get cash payment in a divorce. • Practice birth control • Testify in court, but testimony counted less than men • Is a misogynistic tone in Islam.

37. Slavery • Allowed but not to “people of the book” • Prisoner of war enslavement exception • Constant flow of slaves into Islamic territory from Africa & central Asia • No hereditary slave society develops