Umayyad

1. Umayyad Arab conquerors

2. Umayyad Empire stretched from Spain to central Asia Administrative Reforms • Caliph appointed governors to rule far-flung provinces • Governors ruled from strong garrison towns • Spoils from victories helped finance Umayyad government

4. Instituted a three-level tax system: 1) Muslims: paid zakat 2) Muslim converts, considered mawali, paid higher tax than Muslims 3) Non-Muslims paid highest tax, jizya (security tax)

5. The Down Fall • Many devout Muslims opposed extravagant lifestyles of Umayyad rulers • Persians resented secondary status in Umayyad empire • Abbasids (led by Abbas) of Persia revolted against Damascus • After defeating Umayyad armies, Abbasids took control of Muslim empire

6. Abbasid Preservers, Islamic flowering

7. Rise of Abbasid Party • The party traced its descent from Muhammad’s uncle, al-Abbas. • Al-Abbas’ great great grandson, Abu al-Abbas led his forces against the Umayyads. • Shi’a were his allies. • Mawali (Islamic converts) also supported him to gain acceptance in the community of believers. • Captured Umayyad capital in Syria • At “Reconciliation Banquet” al-Abbas slaughtered remaining Umayyad family.

8. Early Abbasid Era • Began to reject Shi’a and Malawi allies…and defended Sunni Islam. • Built a centralized, absolutist imperial order. • New capital: Baghdad “The Round City” (2km in diameter) on Tigris River • Baghdad became the richest city in the world (only Constantinople came close) • Sat on jeweled thrones. Had palaces and harems! Image of elitism was important. • For more than a century, able to collect revenue and preserve law over much of the empire.

9. Islamic Conversion and Mawali Acceptance • Mass conversions to Islam were encouraged throughout the empire. • Most converts were won over peacefully because of appeal of Islamic beliefs and advantages they enjoyed: - didn’t have to pay head tax - educational opportunities - jobs as traders, administrators, judges

10. Economics of Dar al-Islam Town & Country: Commercial Boom and Agrarian Expansion

11. New Crops & Urban Growth Several factors led to strong internal economy • Location • Size of empire • Beliefs of Islam • Hajj • View of merchants • “People of the Book”

12. New Crops & Urban Growth Fostered diffusion of crops & technologies • Sugarcane, rice, eggplants, oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, coconuts, watermelons, cotton • Irrigation, fertilization, crop rotation • Impact = more planting seasons, increased food supplies, urban growth, wealthy merchant & landlord class, slave trade • Camel, camel saddle, compass, paper, astrolabe, triangular lateen sail, dhows • Impact = formation of hemispheric trading zone

13. Hemispheric Trading Zone • Acting as merchants on Silk Roads • Acting as merchants on Trans-Sahara Routes • Acting as merchants on Indian Ocean • Impact: Interconnection b/t Africa, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China; Improved banking; New business forms that spread risks • Example = Africa

15. The First Flowering of Islamic Learning • Early contributions from Abbasid were great mosques and palaces. Ex: Dome of the Rock • Advances in religious, legal and philosophical discourse. • Science and Math! Abbasid scholars preserved Greek works of medicine, algebra, geometry, astronomy, anatomy, and ethics. • Arabic traders in India carried the Indian number system across Mediter. and into Northern Europe. These number systems became ESSENTIAL to Scientific Revolution in W. Europe.

16. Global Connections: Early Islam & the World • Abbasid Empire was the “go-between” for the ancient civilizations of the Eastern Hemisphere…this role grew as Arab trade networks expanded. • Islam pioneered patterns of organization and thinking that would affect human societies in major ways for centuries. • 5 Centuries = Spread of Islam played a dominant role in the Afro-Eurasian World.