The Rise of Islam: From Muhammad to the Golden Age

1. Chapter 21 The Rise of Islam

2. CHAPTER FOCUS SECTION 1Islam SECTION 2The Arab Empire SECTION 3Arab Contributions

3. Terms to Learn People to Know • Muhammad • pillars of faith • mosque • imam • hajj • alchemists • al-Idrisi • al-Rāzi • Omar Khayyám • Ibn Khaldun Places to Locate • Makkah • Madina (Yathrib) • Damascus • Baghdad

4. Islam • “Islam” is an Arabic word that means “the act of submitting, or giving oneself over, to the will of God.” • An Arab merchant named Muhammad, who came to be known as the prophet of Allah, founded the Islamic faith. • Islam shook the foundations of Byzantium and Persia, the two most powerful civilizations of the time.

5. Makkah (Mecca) • By the middle of the 500s, the three major towns of Yathrib, Ta’ if, and Makkah had developed in the Hejaz. • Arab pilgrims, or travelers to a religious shrine, came there to worship in Arabia’s holiest shrine, the Ka’bah.

6. Muhammad • In 570, Muhammad was born to a widow of a respectable clan in Makkah. • The drinking, gambling, and corruption in Makkah troubled Muhammad, so he spent much time alone in a cave outside the city, thinking and fasting. • Muhammad concluded that there was only one God, Allah, the same god as the God of the Jews and the Christians. • The rich leaders of Makkah began to feel threatened and, as a result, started persecuting Muhammad and his followers.

7. Muhammad (cont.) • Muhammad and several hundred of his followers fled from Makkah to Yathrib (later Madina) in 622. • In Madina, Muhammad gave the people a government that united them and made them proud of their new faith. • But, the people of Makkah invaded Madina several times.

8. Muhammad (cont.) • In 628, Muhammad signed a peace treaty with the people of Makkah, which they violated in 630, leading Muhammad and his companions to triumphantly enter their home city, Makkah, for a peaceful conquest. • In 632 Muhammad died.

9. The Quran • The Quran is written in Arabic and describes the pillars of faith, or the five duties all Muslims must fulfill. • The first duty is the confession of faith. • The second duty deals with prayer; some of which are recited at a mosque and led by a prayer leader called an imam. • The third duty has to do with the giving of zakah, or charity. • The fourth duty deals with fasting. • The fifth duty involves a pilgrimage to Makkah, called the hajj.

10. The Arab Empire • When Muhammad died in 632, a group of Muslims chose a new leader whom they called khalifa, or caliph, which means “successor.”

11. The Rightly Guided Caliphs • The first caliph was Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s father-in-law and close friend. • As the next caliphs ruled from Madina and kept in close touch with the people, they were called the Rightly Guided Caliphs. • The Rightly Guided Caliphs honored Muhammad’s wish to carry Islam to other peoples and sent warriors into Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, and North Africa.

12. The Rightly Guided Caliphs(cont.) • Throughout all these places, the Arabs were victorious because Islam united them in striving for a common goal, which they considered holy. • The Arab way of treating the people they conquered also contributed to their success.

13. The Umayyads • Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law and the last of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, was killed in 661. • The new caliph moved the capital from Madina to Damascus and founded the Umayyad Dynasty. • The Umayyads ruled more like kings than religious leaders. • However, the Umayyads had social and economic troubles that, in the end, led to their downfall.

14. The Umayyads (cont.) • The Muslims themselves divided into two groups, the Shi’ah and the Sunni. • After a while, war broke out between the Umayyads and a group of Muslims called Abbasids. • In 750, the Abbasids defeated the Umayyads and became the new rulers of the Arab Empire.

15. The Abbasids • The Abbasids ruled the Arab Empire from 750 to 1258; their first 100 years was known as the Golden Age of Islam. • Under the Abbasids, all that remained of Arab influence was the Arabic language and the Islamic religion. • The Abbasids created the government post ofvizier, or chief adviser between the throne and the people. • The Abbasids made Baghdad one of the major trading centers of the world.

16. The Abbasids (cont.) • Life in the empire changed as advanced farming methods were employed. • The empire soon became too large for one caliph, and it began to break up into independent kingdoms. • In 836, the caliph moved to a new capital city called Samarra. • In 945, the Persians took control of Baghdad.

17. The Golden Age of Muslim Spain • The Muslim Arabs who conquered North Africa intermarried with the Berbers and became known as Moors. • In 710, they invaded Spain, defeated the West Goths, who had taken the country from the Romans, and set up a kingdom that allowed religious freedom. • For the next 400 years, a rich culture flourished in Spain. • During this time, Jews traveled to and traded in every part of the Arab Empire and beyond.

18. Islamic Life • Islam was born in a society where men could have unlimited numbers of wives and the killing of female children was common. • Islam attempted to correct this situation. • Both men and women were obligated to seek knowledge. • Reciting and memorizing the Quran was an important requirement in education. • The mosques served as neighborhood schools.

19. Arab Contributions • Between the 770s and the 1300s, Arab scholars helped preserve much of the learning of the ancient world and made many other contributions to the modern world. • Many Arab scientists, known as alchemists, tried to turn base metals, such as tin, iron, and lead, into gold and silver. • Arab astronomers studied the heavens, named stars, described solar eclipses, and proved the moon’s effects on tides and the oceans.

20. Arab Contributions (cont.) • The astronomer-geographer al-ldrisi drew the first accurate map of the world. • Arab mathematicians invented algebra and borrowed the numerals 0-9 from Gupta mathematicians. • The Arabs gave much to the field of medicine, setting up the world’s first school of pharmacy, opening the world’s first drugstores, and organizing medical clinics. • The Persian doctor al-Razi discovered differences between measles and smallpox.

21. Arab Contributions (cont.) • The Arabs also made many contributions to the arts. • The Persian poet Omar Khayyám’s Rubáiyát is considered one of the finest poems ever written. • Islamic art is distinct and full of color. • Much of what is known about this time comes from Arabs, such as Ibn Khaldun, who wrote down the history of Islam.