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800 AD. Golden Age of Islam. Islam Spreads After 632 AD. Muhammad did not name a successor Abu Bakr becomes 1 st Caliph 1 st Four Caliphs known as “rightly guided” Knew Muhammad, used Qur’an for leadership Used army to unite Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Egypt, and parts of Byzantine Empire
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800 AD Golden Age of Islam
Islam Spreads After 632 AD • Muhammad did not name a successor • Abu Bakr becomes 1st Caliph • 1st Four Caliphs known as “rightly guided” • Knew Muhammad, used Qur’an for leadership • Used army to unite Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Egypt, and parts of Byzantine Empire • Persecuted people felt they were liberators
How They Ruled • Soldiers were well disciplined and expertly commanded • Treated conquered people respectfully • Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians were called “People of the Book” • Paid tax to exempt from military • Not allowed to spread faith…proselytize • Became important scholars and members of bureaucracy
1st Muslim Empire • Ruled by the Umayyad family • Moved Muslim capital to Syria to keep an eye on conquered territories • Some Muslims felt Umayyads lived too luxuriously • Begins a split within Muslim communities
Shi’a and Sunni • Most Muslims accepted the Ummayad rule • Those who didn’t, resisted and pushed for a new interpretation of the role of Caliph • Shi’as believe the Caliph needs to be a blood relative of Muhammad • Sunnis believe the Caliph should follow Muhammad’s example
Sufi-Sufism • Another branch rejected luxury altogether • Pursue life of poverty • Try to achieve personal contact with G-d • Through meditation and chanting • Music is part of spirituality* • Morocco to Turkey
Abbasid Dynasty • The Umayyad Dynasty falls to rebel opposition • In 750, the Abbasid clan took control of the Muslim Empire • Umayyad family is executed • One prince flees to Muslim Spain
Gibraltar • Named for famous Berber general named Tariq • An entire peninsula named after him • Jabal Tariq = Gibraltar
Berber Arab Empire in Spain • Known as Moors • Called Spain al-Andalus • Battled for Europe with the Franks • Halted near Paris at the city of Tours in 732 • Called the Battle of Tours
Back in the Abbasid Empire • Move capital to Baghdad • Location on key trade route • Enormous bureaucracy develops: • Treasury, Military, Chancery, Diplomats • Many positions in bureaucracy run by Jews and Christians
Contributions • Banking system organized • Arabic is the official language • The Abbasid dinar* the official currency • Letters of credit, sakks-checks, offered by banks…exchanged for cash at banks • Cosmopolitan blend of culture, religion, $
Leads to a Golden Age Across the Empire • Time of peace and safe for mix of cultures • Damascus, Baghdad, Cordoba huge cities • 4 social classes: • Muslims by birth • Muslims by conversions • People of the Book • POW slaves…Janissaries
Muslim Women • “Righteous women are obedient” but… • Qur’an states men and women are equal believers • Shari’a gives women specific rights: • Marriage contract • Divorce • inheritance rights • Property rights • Encouraged to read and write in Arabic
Scholarship • Encouraged in the Quran • “Acquire knowledge…it enables possessor to distinguish between right and wrong; lights way to heaven; guides to happiness; an armor against enemies” Prophet Muhammad • Muslim world preserved ancient scholarship • 800’s Baghdad opens House of Wisdom: academy, library, translation center • Worked on translating texts from Greece, India, Persia into Arabic
Advancements • Persian scholar al-Razi compiles medical encyclopedia and smallpox treatment book • Al-Khwarizmi invents al-jabr=algebra • Cartography • Early astonomical devices before telescope • Astrolabe • Calligraphy as text and art • Literature…1,001 Arabian Nights
King Shahriyar had vowed to have a new wife each night. Each was to be executed the following morning. • Sheherazade, enacted a clever plan. Each night her sister would come into their room and request a story. The King became so entranced by Sheherazade's stories that he wanted to hear the conclusion of each one. • Night after night Sheherazade would leave him in suspense, postponing her execution for 1,001 nights until he pardoned her!
Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves • Aladdin • Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Muslim View of the Ideal Man ~800AD • “The ideal man should be from East Persia, Muslim in faith, Arabic in language, Iraqi education, Hebrew in astuteness, Christian in conduct, a Greek in science, Indian in interpretation, and lastly a Sufi in spiritual life” • What does this quote imply about their culture?
4 Muslim Empires • Arab • Spanish-Moorish-al-Andalus(Andalusian) • Ottoman Turkish • Mughal in India