By: Kirsten Schulz, Caroline Dickensheets and Shaina Patel

And its Impacts on the World

Sunni Islam is a branch of Islam that follows the belief of having the community choose its religious leaders.

This contrasts the Shi’ite branch of Islam who believes that religious leadership should have belonged to Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and his descendants.

The term caliphate is used to describe offices that were established to takeover the teachings of Muhammad as well as rule the Islamic empire.

Imams were considered to be spiritual leaders of Islam.

Muhammad: an Arab prophet, later the founder of Islam.

Abu Bakr: Friend and advisor to Muhammad. Muhammad chose him over Ali to succeed him.

Ali: cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. He felt as if he should have succeeded Muhammad and not Abu Bakr.

The Umayyad Caliphate: They were the first hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs. They ruled from Spain to India but were eventually overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Abbasid Caliphate: They were descendents of the prophet Muhammad’s uncle. They overthrew the Umayyad.

Osman: Founder and later sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Babur: He was founder of the Mughal Dynasty.

Men during traditional prayer

Woman in traditional Abaya

A map showing the spread of Islam from the beginning of Muhammad to the 1700s.

A depiction of the Prophet Muhammad

A traditional Islamic Mosque

A depiction of Ali

People during their pilgrimage to the sacred mosque of Mecca

610: The beginning of Muhammad's mission and revelation of the Qur'an. 613: Public preaching of Islam begin. 630: Led by Muhammad, the Muslims conquer Mecca. 632: Muhammad dies and chooses Abu Bakr to be his successor. A small

group favors Ali as caliph and become known as Shi’at Ali, or party of Ali. 656: Ali becomes the fourth caliph after the one before him is

assassinated. Some of the Muslims rebel against him (Sunnis). 661: Violence breaks out among the Muslims and Ali is assassinated. 680: The son of Ali, Hussein, marches against the army of the Caliphate

at Karbala. He is defeated and the split between the Shi’ites and the Sunnis deepens.

750: The Umayyad caliphate rules from Damascus but later falls. The Abbasid Caliphate begins.

755: The Abbasid Caliphate rules from its capital in Baghdad. 873: The 11th Shi’ite Imam dies and no one succeeds him.

873-940: This period was known as the Lesser Occultation . The son of the 11th Shi’ite Imam disappears and leaves his advisors as representatives of the Shi’ite faith.

940: The Greater Occultation of the 12th Imam begins (Imam that disappeared). No Imam or representative is present.

1258: Led by Hulagu, the Mongols destroy Baghdad, and end the Sunni Arab caliphate.

1300: The ottoman empire begins to rise to power. Islam begins to make its way to southeast Asia.

1453: The Byzantine empire falls to the Ottomans. 1500s: The Safavid Dynasty is established in Persia, and it

declares Shiism the state religion. The Mughal dynasty is established in India and declares Sunni Islam the state religion.

1791: Beginnings of European Colonization. 1820-1870: Rise of British colonization in India and French

Colonization in North Africa.

After three years of preaching only to his family and close friends, Muhammad’s teachings become public.

A split between believers of Islam occurs after the death of Muhammad and his choice of Abu Bakr to succeed him.

After the assassination of Ali, the split between Shi’ites and Sunnis grows after a defeat by Ali’s son Hussein.

Caliphates begin to establish to continue and rule the teachings of Muhammad.

Advancements in technology such as science and math. Improvements in social order, including the status of women and an increase and expansion regarding trade.

Caliphates are beginning to collapse as empires and dynasties such as the Ottoman and Mughal rise to power.

These empires and dynasties no longer have caliphates but are declared states with either Shi’ite or Sunni beliefs.

European colonization begins which drills out Islamic beliefs of those particular regions.

Politics:•Established by an escapee of the Umayyad Caliphate ('Abd al-Rahman) after being overthrown by the Abbasids.

Technology:•Advances in sciences such as medicine, engineering and even hydraulic technologies. This was aided by the alliance between the Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Intellectual Innovation:•One library is said to have housed 500,000 manuscripts including Islamic texts and a staff of researchers, illuminators, and book binders.

Economy:•The alliance with the some of the Jews and Christians also helped improved trade and agriculture as well as navigation for trade.

Religion:•Established an Umayyad caliphate with Islamic beliefs.

Society:•Established powerful cities such as Cordoba.•They treated the Christians and Jews with respect especially since many of them embraced Islam.

Arts and Architecture:•The city of Cordoba had about 700 mosques, 60, 000 palaces and 70 libraries.

Politics:• Islam was brought into the Balkans region by means of European conquest during the Byzantine empire (The Ottoman Empire)

Technology:•Adopted the military of the Ottomans.•Had advances in science and math due to experimentation brought on by the Renaissance.

Intellectual Innovation:•Teachers of Islamic law were brought into this region to spread the culture•Many new languages were introduced as well as the Arab languages of the Ottomans.

Economy:•There were no known trade routes regarding the Balkans region until recently .•New research indicates that Muslim cities may have been established to trade on the Silk Road.

Religion:•After capturing many of the Byzantine regions, Islamic belief and culture had been adopted by some of the Christian population.

Society:•Had divided social classes like the Ottomans.•Based on being Muslim or not. A persons role in society also determined what portion of the army they were in.

Arts and Architecture:•Forts and mosques were also built.

Politics:•Had sultanates and kingdoms established based on Islamic belief.

Technology:•Had advances in Medicine.•Adapted the Canon of Medicine and is still used in parts of Southeast Asia today.

Intellectual Innovation:•Established mosque centers and schools to continue the preaching of Islam.•Were considered to have “mystical/magical” powers.

Economy:•Islam was passed to the Islands of southeast Asia through trade. The sultanates were established on ports and important trade routes. •It also increased trade with surrounding regions.

Religion:•There was some conflict among those who were devout Buddhists and did not want to convert.

Society:•Inheritance continued to be traced through the females after the coming of Islam despite its efforts to promote a male dominated society.

Arts and Architecture:•Had shadow plays based on the Brahmanic age of India that became more defined after the introduction of Islam.

Politics:•The Shari'a is used in African Muslim countries as the land's law•West Africa used Islam as the base for state-building.

Technology:•Introduced various mills such as wind and sugar•Islam brought new ways of measuring.

Intellectual Innovation:•Mixed with the native language•Introduced a new written language

Economy:•Increased trade with Iran•Arab traders and travelers spread the religion further down the African coast.

Religion:•Tolerated traditional African traditions but incorporated many Islamic ones as well.

Society:•Turned original communities into Islamic based communities•Had groups of people, such as the Berbers, who were strict followers of Islam.

Arts and Architecture:•Introduced coral rocks, limestone, and sundried bricks as building materials in Somalia and reinforced the use of geometric design in crafts and textiles.•Built mosques and inscribed amulets with verses from the Quran

Politics:•Muslims became political rulers.•An example would be the Mughal Dynasty which was founded by Babur.

Technology:•Muslims spread the Indian knowledge of science and math to the world

Intellectual Innovation:•Muslim language mixed with the local languages to create Urdu which is still used today.

Economy:•increased cotton production•promoted trade expanding from Morocco to Indonesia•Established Karkhanas (Small factories)

Religion:•Temples of different religions were turned into Islamic mosques

Society:•Urbanization increased along with the rise of many cities•Most of the converted population belonged to the lower class

Arts and Architecture:•The Taj Mahal is considered to be one of the greatest Muslim art creations•Islamic architecture is also used in the Tomb of Humayun

Politics:•There have been many caliphates in control of the Middle East such as the Umayyad, the Abbasids, and the caliph Haroun al-Rashid.

Technology:•Developed and incorporated units of math such as zero as well as reasoning.•Advances in chemistry, medicine, surgery and anatomy.

Intellectual Innovation:•Had schools to help continue Islamic teachings.•Had developed poetry and literature, an example would be the famous 1001 Arabian Nights.• Had begun Islamic translations of ancient science and philosophy texts.

Economy:•The spread of Islam into parts of Asia brought in paper from China.•The spread of Islam greatly affected trade which led throughout parts of Europe and formed the basis of the European Renaissance. •Also had advances in agriculture under the Abbasids.

Religion:•Birth place of the Prophet Muhammad.•The Middle East served as a home to Mecca where the Muslims make their pilgrimage.•Were later challenged by the crusaders.

Economy (continued)•Introduction of new livestock and crops•Also improved the ancient network of wells, underground canals, and water-wheels.

Arts and Architecture:•Built schools, libraries, research centers and observatories under the caliph Al-Ma`mun .

Society:•Earlier in Islamic history of the Middle East there was discrimination against non-Arab converts.•Islamic woman had more freedoms than the women of Judaism and Christianity but they were still restricted from certain activities•Had slaves but could not enslave other Muslims.

All regions were similar in the sense that they were all established due to the spread of Islam and ruled by Muslim caliphates or dynasties who established Islam as the prominent religion. However they differed by the caliphates and dynasties who ruled them.

Many of the regions established schools to continue the teachings of Islam. Libraries and research centers were also established. They differed in languages due to the incorporation of pre-existing languages and the rise of new languages. There was also the introduction of poetry and literature such as the world-famous novel: 1001 Arabian Nights.

The religions of the six regions were all fairly similar due to shared Islamic beliefs, except those who followed the Shi’ite Islam faith instead of Sunni. Islam tolerated many pre-existing traditions but still discriminated against those who did not want to convert.

All built great mosques, tombs, and engaged in other monumental building. Some of the regions introduced different building techniques and materials such as coral, sundried bricks and limestone. Southeast Asia also performed shadow plays depicting the Brahmanic Age of India while the Africans enforced the use of geometric design in crafts and textiles.

There were many advances in science and math such as chemistry, astronomy and anatomy. Advances in mathematics include the founding of zero and reasoning systems. Advances in medicine and surgery occurred in the Middle East.

The expansion of trade routes throughout Asia, India, the Middle East , Africa, parts of Europe, and maritime trade began . There were advances in navigation regarding naval trade as well as the rise of new trading products such as cotton and paper. The European Renaissance was greatly impacted by trade with the Middle East who also experienced great developments in agriculture such as the introduction of new livestock and crops.

Islamic based cities were established where society greatly depended on being Muslim or not. While Spain had respect for the Jews and Christians, regions such as the Middle East and the Balkans were not as understanding and discriminated against non-Arab converts. Women also had few rights, but those who did, such as women of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, had more rights than the women of Judaism and Christianity.

About 85-90% of today’s Islamic population of 1.5 billion is Sunni.

Most of the controversial publicity that Sunni-Islam is receiving in today’s world is because of the Sunni-Shia split that exists in the Middle East.

Since the American invasion of Iraq in the 21st century, the Sunni-Shiite conflict has been aggravated in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

There has also been a sharp increase in the number of split mosques, arguments over the population, discrimination against the Sunni in politics, economy, media and education.

Both groups have been launching terrorist attacks against one another and this poses the biggest threat to the Islamic religion today.

Shaina Patel: PIRATES and the Direct Comparison part of 4 (1 and 4) Caroline Dickensheets: Chronology and the Change over time part of

4 (2 and 4) Kirsten Schulz: Pictures/Maps/Captions and Sunni Islam Today. (3

and 5) Links:

-http://www.mideastweb.org/islamhistory.htm

-http://history-world.org/islam.htm (Used all different pages)

-http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm

-http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=articles&id=150535

-http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/india/religion.htm#Islam

-http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/sec5.htm

-The AP World Text Book