Islamic Beliefs and Practices

2. Revelations of Muhammad recorded in the Quran Islamic Beliefs and Practices Shari’ah – law code

3. Umayyad Dynasty • 661-750 AD • Founded by Mu’awiyah • Battle of Tours (Muslims invaded France trying to spread Islamic beliefs. Defeated at Tours, France by Charles Martel.) This battle stopped the northward advance of Islam from the Iberian peninsula, and is considered by most historians to be of macro-historical importance, in that it halted the Islamic conquests, and preserved Christianity as the controlling faith in Europe, during a period in which Islam was overrunning the remains of the old Roman and Persian Empires. • Built a powerful state • Saw the split between Sunni and Shiite

6. Abbassid Dynasty • 750-1258 AD • Defeated the Umayyad Dynasty • During rule of Harun al-Rashid, caliphate experienced a Golden Age • Moved capital to Baghdad • Worked to ensure equality among all Arab and non-Arab Muslims

8. Islamic Achievements • Arabs translated works from Plato and Aristotle into Arabic and put them in a library called the House of Wisdom • It is through the Muslim world that Europeans recovered the works of these scholars. • Ibn-Sina – wrote a medical encyclopedia that became the basic medical textbook in medieval Europe (contagious diseases) • IbnRushd– Islamic philosopher similar to Aristotle • Ibn-Khaldun – Muslim historian

9. Great Mosque of Samarra Worlds largest mosque (in 850) Covered 10 acres The spiral is called a minaret, where the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer 5x a day

10. Most famous Mosque. In Cordoba Spain.

11. Arabesques