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Assess the differences between Sunni and Shia Islam. Feedback. Which belief, practice or argument makes more sense or logic? Can they show tolerance towards each other? What leads this difference / conflict to violence? Saudi Arabia - - - - - - Iran. Who are the Sunnis and Shi’as?
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Assess the differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.Feedback • Which belief, practice or argument makes more sense or logic? • Can they show tolerance towards each other? • What leads this difference / conflict to violence? • Saudi Arabia - - - - - - Iran • Who are the Sunnis and Shi’as? • Key differences: (you can pick the beliefs / practices of your interest, at least 5) • Succession…. Procedure / criteria.. curse (Who seems right? Suggestion….) • Imam divine authority • Qur’an • 5 pillars • Other e.g. Mutt’a
Have you done homework question? Sunni and Shi’a Islam Have you read the handout? Have you completed the tasks in the handout?
L1 4.2 The rightly guided Caliphs LO • Understand the importance of the Rightly Guided Caliphs in Islam and to the spread of Islam • Explore and analyse the historical and religious context of this period (such as major developments, geographical, migration, economic and social factors and Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties).
Situation at the death of Prophet Muhammad • Arabia was still not actually Muslim. Muhammad had made alliance with tribes of Arabia, but they had not all become a part of Ummah. (Shaban & Watt) • Rival prophets; Musailmah, Sajah among the tribes of Central Arabia… Aswad Ansi in Yemen. • The tribes who saw brighter economic future away from Islam, broke off their commitment to Medina.
Problems after the death of Prophet: • The replacement of Muhammad was essential, who had been the leader of the community whose decision would final. • The wars between Makkah and Medina disrupted the trade and economy at the time rapid population growth. • Islam; whether it was religion of the Arabs or It was faith for the world? • These problems were to be dealt by the Rightly Guided Caliphs
The rightly guided Caliphs • The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rightly Guided Caliphate. • The concept is a reference to the Sunni tradition Abbasid Dynasty, "Hold firmly to my example (Sunnah) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs“. • ‘It is unthinkable that any ordinary man should wield (exercise) the same powers as the Prophet’. (Shaban) • There were; - Muhajirun (left Makkah with Muhammad in 622CE) - Ansaar - Family of Muhammad
? In your notes……….. • Who do you think deserves succession on the priority basis? • How to elect? • Recall the information covered last year on Muhammad’s life; • Discuss on your desk • What criteria would you suggest if you were there, that suits all parties?
The Rightly Guided Caliphs -Timeline • Abu Bakr (632-634 CE) • Umar ibn al Khattab, (634-644 CE) • Uthman ibn Affan (644-656 CE • Ali ibn Abi Talib (656-661 CE)
1- Abu Bakr (632-634 CE) • Soon after Muhammad's death a gathering of prominent Ansarand some of the Muhajroon, in Medina, acclaimed Abu Bakr as the successor to Muhammad or the Caliph. • ‘Abu Bakr quelled the uprisings with wisdom and clemency, and thus completed the unification of Arabia. He dealt creatively with the complaints of the rebels, and there were no reprisals taken against those who returned to the fold’. (K Armstrong; ‘Islam A short history’)
1-Abu Bakr (632-634 CE) • In 633 CE; • Defeated Ridda tribes, a move to solve economic problems and expand Islam to be the a world religion. • Central Arabia was conquered by Khalid at Battle of Aqraba. • Khalid led his army against Sassanian Empire who were absentee landlords, easily conquered. • Fighting against Zakah deniers; • Abu Bakr insisted that the zakat and the Salah both must be done to be a complete Muslim. This was the start of the Ridda wars (Wars of Apostasy). • Campaign started, sent army led by Khalid and Am’r ibin al’Aasto the Byzantine Empire, the battle of Ajnadyan in 634CE. Abu Bakr died soon after that.
1-Abu Bakr (632-634 CE) • Some traditions about the origin of the Qur'an say that Abu Bakr was instrumental in preserving it in written form, as he was the first to order the collection of the sacred revelations. • Abu Bakr died in 634 CE in Madinah, naming Umar ibn al-Khattab as his successor shortly before his death.
L2 2- Umar ibn al Khattab (634-644 CE) • Conquered large areas • Continuation of expansion • Organisation of the empire - tax - civil services - salaries for employees - postage - social security system first Arabs didn’t like kingship, they would accept the authority of a Chief during military campaign.’ (Armstrong)
The conquests of Umar • During Umar's reign Muslims conquered; Mesopotamia, parts of Persia, Egypt, Palestine in 638 CE Umar himself entered, Syria (the battle of Yermuk 637CE), North Africa, Armenia and Sassanian territory the Battle of Nihawand in 641 CE defeating Emperor Yezdigird III who fled to India.
Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. • Hijra Calendar; In 639, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year 17 since the Hijra, he decreed that the years of the Islamic era should be counted from the year of the Hijra. • Umar died in 644, after he was assassinated by a Persian Christian slave Abu Lu’lu in the Masjid in Medina. Historically what highlights the importance of Umar’s period of Caliphate in Islam? Explore.
The organisation of the Empire • Discuss each of the following points in pairs • Assess how Umar solved the organisational problem of the Empire in a paragraph. • Rapid conquest left Umar with major problem. He solved it by: • Establishing garrison towns on the edges of the conquered areas so that they could have rapid contact with Medina (Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Fustat - Cairo); • Banning Arabs from buying land in the conquered areas • Keeping the current civil service in operation; • Setting taxes on land related to whether or not it was owned by Muslims; • Ensuring that non-Arabs who converted to Islam were treated as Arabs; • Organising pensions for people in Medina and salaries for Muslims soldiers
Homework Research; about some later examples of caliphs and how the caliphate expressed in practice. Umayyad and Abbasid caliphate. Bring some bullet points even on A4 page
L3 3- Uthman ibn Affan (644- 656CE) • Umar appointed a shuraof six prominent Muslims to decide his successor. It was an electoral college, which determined to continue the Caliphate and offered to Uthman ibn Affan.
3- Uthman ibn Affan (644- 656CE) • Conquest of North Africa, westwards and eastwards to the boundary of China and Indus valley, • First Muslim navy organised to protect Egypt from Byzantines • Original copy of the Qur’an, compiled & preserved this managed to capture Cyprus and Greek Island
Uthman’s problems • Uthman became the leader of Umayyad clan, who had been the main opponents of Muhammad in Medina. He appointed his cousin Mu’awiya as Governor of Syria and other relatives were given important posts. • Uthman recruited the ex Ridda tribesmen who had fought against Abu Bakr. • In the East the original Muslim warriors (The Qurra; they knew the Qu’ran off by heart, Watt), who had taken over the land deserted by Sassanian rulers…taken off them and given to a non Muslim new governor. • Uthman had been concerned about the copies of the Qu’ran with slight differences of dialect. So he ordered the dialect of Quraysh and banned the Remembrancers, which alienated many of the pious. • Uthman got martyred as a result of the protest. Discuss Uthman’s problems.
4- Ali ibn Abi Talib 656 – 661CE • Difficult situations • Protest against the murder of Uthman, demand for arrest of the murderers • Conflict within the Ummah • Battle of the camel 656CE (between Ali & Ayesha) Saffain ( between Ali & Muawiyah)
4- Ali ibn AbiTalib 656 – 661CE • Ali defeated Prophet’s widow Aisha when they arrived in Iraq at the Battle of Jamal 656CE. • Ali faced a threat from Mu’awiya, who refused to recognise him until Uthman’s murderers were brought to justice. Both met with their armies in the Battle of Siffin. Ali was forced to accept the arbitration. • Some of the Qurra said that as Caliph Ali was the only orbiter and that by accepting arbitration he was admitting he was not the Caliph. They broke away, establishing the first independent Muslim state in Oman, they were called Kharijites (seceders) • Arbiters were split in their decision. One said that Ali was wrong Mu’awiya should be the Caliph, other said that Ali was right. • Before Ali could do anything, he got stabbed by a Kharijite whilst praying in the Masjid during Ramadan 661CE.
Discuss on your desk.Do you agree with Armstrong? • “Western people often assume that Islam is violent militaristic faith which imposed itself on its subject peoples at sword-point. This is an inaccurate interpretation of the Muslim wars of expansion.” (p25, Islam, Armstrong)
4- Ali ibn AbiTalib 656 – 661CE • Mu’awiya now took the Caliphate. • Mu’awiya got Ali’s eldest son Hassan’s support, paid him pension • Capital moved from Medina to Damascus • The Qurra never accepted Mu’awiya • Umayyad dynasty founded by Mu’awiya, which remained in power untill 750CE.
Why did Islam spread so rapidly? Task • Read pages 104-106, • Discuss and annotative • Assess these reasons; • are these appealing to you as • the genuine reasons for the • rapid spread of Islam.
Muslim world about 660 Fatḥ (opening/conquest): rapid conquest of surrounding territory
What are the reasons for the rapid spread of Islam? Traditional Muslim historians; ‘it was because of the power and strength given by God, ‘this unity of purpose made the Muslims a living force with initiative and rive; and when, having completed his mission, the Prophet of Islam passed away… they were the most disciplined people ready to take the word of God to every corner of the world’. (M A Aziz) Difference Western historians; ‘The Arab conquerors were very clever in their treatment of the conquered people. Taxes were made lower than they had been. The civil service was retained. No land was taken off its owners and Christians and Jews were allowed to worship as they wished. As a result the Arabs were seen as liberators rather than conquerors. ‘Therefore the God of vengeance delivered us out of the hand of the Romans by means of Arabs’. (Syriac Christian author quoted by Lewis)
What are the reasons for the rapid spread of Islam? • Byzantine Empire imposed heavy taxes on that they had little support in the provinces of Syria; Palestine and Egypt; persecuted by Orthodox Christian leaders because of their Monophysite Christian belief; different languages than Greek • Sassanian Empire; much of the agricultural land was run by absentee landlords • Sassanians and Byzantines had ended a deliberating war in which they had lost the support of their Arab mercenaries (armies). • 19th century historians felt that overpopulation in Arabia and drought forced the Arabs to leave. • The religion of Islam must have had a dynastic impact on the Muslim soldiers not least the Quranic teaching, ‘dying on jihad would take straight to heaven’. • Khalid and other generals had mastered a new techniques of cavalry and rapid communication.
The importance of rightly guided Caliphs to the spread of Islam