Chap 13 Pt 2 Islam’s Expansion

The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE)

• From Meccan merchant class

• Brought stability to the Islamic community

• Capital: Damascus, Syria

• Associated with Arab military aristocracy

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

The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)

• 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

• Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab)

• Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion

• Content to administer the empire inherited

• Dar al-Islam – House of Islam – Muslim lands

• Growth through military activity of autonomous Islamic forces

Abbasid Administration (a.k.a.?)

• Persian influence• Court at Baghdad• Influence of Islamic

scholars • Ulama and qadis

sought to develop policy based on the Quran and sharia

• Define?

Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE)

• High point of Abbasid dynasty

• Baghdad center of commerce

• Great cultural activity

Abbasid Decline (Similar, different than other empires?)

• 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

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

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

Banking and Trade• Scale of trade causes

banks to develop– Sakk (“check”)

• Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar al-Islam promotes OR inhibits trade?

• Joint ventures common• WHY?

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

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– DEFINE?– Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian

practice

Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition

• Islamic values– Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam– Establishment of madrasas– Importance of the Hajj

• Sufi missionaries– Asceticism, mysticism– Some tension with orthodox Islamic

theologians– Wide popularity

Heading?

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

• Major Sufi thinker from Persia

• Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy instead

• Cultural influences on Islam• Persia

– Administration and governance– literature

• India– Mathematics, science, medicine

• “Hindi” numbers

• Greece– Philosophy, esp. Aristotle– Ibn Rushd/Averroes (1126-1198)