The Expansive Realm of Islam

1. The Expansive Realm of Islam

2. Muhammad and His Message • Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca • Orphaned as a child • Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as merchant • Familiarity with paganism, Christianity and Judaism as practiced in Arabian peninsula

3. Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation • Visions c. 610 CE • Archangel Gabriel • Monotheism • Attracts followers to Mecca

4. The Qur'an • Record of revelations received during visions • Committed to writing c. 650 CE (Muhammad dies 632) • Tradition of Muhammad’s life: hadith

5. Conflict at Mecca • Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings offensive to polytheistic pagans • Economic threat to existing religious industry • Denunciation of greed affront to local aristocracy

6. The Hijra • Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) 622 CE • Year 0 in Muslim calendar • Organizes followers into communal society (the umma) • Legal, spiritual code • Commerce, raids on Meccan caravans for sake of umma

7. The “Seal of the Prophets” • Islam as culmination and correction of Judaism, Christianity • Inheritor of both Jewish and Christian texts

8. Muhammad’s Return to Mecca • Attack on Mecca, 630 • Conversion of Mecca to Islam • Destruction of pagan sites, replaced with mosques • Ka'ba preserved in honor of importance of Mecca • Approved as pilgrimage site

9. The Ka'ba

11. No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet “Say ‘Allah is God alone! God the eternal! He begets not and is not begotten! Nor is there like unto Him anyone!”... - The Quran 2:344 The Five Pillars of Islam

12. Pray 5 Times Daily Facing Mecca The Five Pillars of Islam

13. Fasting during Ramadan Abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. Obedience, humility and self-control Eat a few dates and drink either water or milk before eating their real meal. The Five Pillars of Islam

14. Charity (Zakat) Giving money to Mosque and the church leaders are to distribute the money to the poor. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) At least once in a lifetime. The Five Pillars of Islam

15. The Five Pillars of Islam • No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet • Daily prayer • Fasting during Ramadan • Charity (Zakat) • Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

16. Jihad • “struggle” • Against vice • Against ignorance of Islam • “holy war”

17. Islamic Law: The Sharia • Codification of Islamic law • Based on Qur'an, hadith, logical schools of analysis • Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human activity

18. The Caliph “Successor to the Prophet • No clear to successor to Muhammad identified • Abu Bakr chosen to lead as Caliph • Led war against villagers who abandoned Islam after death of Muhammad

19. The Expansion of Islam • The Three Main Ways Islam Spread • Trade • Conquering • Missionaries- Sufi

20. The Expansion of Islam • Highly successful attacks on Byzantine, Sassanid territories • Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory

21. The expansion of Islam, 632-733 C.E.

22. The Shi'a vs. the Sunni • Disagreements over selection of caliphs • Ali passed over for Abu Bakr • Served as caliph 656-661 CE, then assassinated along with most of his followers

23. Shi’a (Shi’ite) Caliph must come from a descendent of Ali More Militant Sunni Believed that anyone could become Caliph if they deserved to do so. The Shi'a vs. the Sunni

24. Shi'ite Pilgrims at Karbala

25. The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE) • From Meccan merchant class • Capital: Damascus, Syria • Associated with Arab military aristocracy

26. The Umayyad Dynasty Policy toward Conquered Peoples • Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes discontent • Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims • Head tax (jizya) on non-Muslims • Umayyad luxurious living causes further decline in moral authority

27. Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, non-Arab Muslims Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia Defeats Umayyad army in 750 Invited Umayyads to banquet, then massacred them The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)

28. Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty • Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab) • Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion • Dar al-Islam • Growth through military activity of autonomous Islamic forces

29. Abbasid Decline • Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid • Provincial governors assert regional independence • Dissenting sects, heretical movements • Abbasid caliphs become puppets of Persian nobility • Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real power behind the throne

30. Economy of the Early Islamic World • Spread of food and industrial crops • Trade routes from India to Spain • Western diet adapts to wide variety • New crops adapted to different growing seasons • Agricultural sciences develop • Cotton, paper industries develop • Major cities emerge

31. Formation of a Hemispheric Trading Zone • Historical precedent of Arabic trade • Dar al-Islam encompasses silk routes • ice exported from Syria to Egypt in summer, 10th century • Camel caravans • Maritime trade

32. Banking and Trade • Scale of trade causes banks to develop • Sakk (“check”) • Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar al-Islam promotes trade • Joint ventures common

33. Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) • Muslim Berber conquerors from North Africa take Spain, early 8th c. • Allied to Umayyads, refused to recognize Abbasid dynasty • Formed own caliphate • Tensions, but interrelationship

34. Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) • Expands to Tours in Modern Day France • Defeated by Charles Martel • Driven back across the Pyrenees Mountains • Muslims never regain territory and Western Europe

35. Changing Status of Women • Quran improves status of women • Outlawed female infanticide • Brides, not husbands, claim dowries • Yet male dominance preserved • Patrilineal descent • Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden • Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice

36. Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition • Islamic values • Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam • Establishment of madrasas- Muslim religious schools • Importance of the Hajj • Sufi missionaries • Asceticism, mysticism • Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians • Wide popularity

37. Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) • Major Sufi thinker from Persia • Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy instead

38. Cultural influences on Islam • Persia • Administration and governance • literature • India • Mathematics, science, medicine • “Hindi” numbers • Greece • Philosophy, esp. Aristotle • Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)