Chapter 11: Islam Islam means “submission” in Arabic Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and deeds (hadith) are basis of Islam Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s

Chapter 11: Islam

Islam means “submission” in Arabic

Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and deeds (hadith) are basis of Islam

Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s life are fulfilled in the life of a community (the umma)

Combination of religion and government makes Islam similar to empires

The Origins of Islam

The Prophet: His Life and TeachingVisited by Angel Gabriel in 610 C.E. at age forty; visits continued for twenty yearsAfter Muhammad’s death, his words were memorized and written down as the QuranQuran regarded as absolute, uncorrupted word of GodDiscovery of paper and printing speeds the spread of the Quran


The Five Pillars of IslamDeclaring the Creed

Praying five times a day facing Mecca

Giving alms to the poor

Fasting each day during Ramadan

Making a hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)


The Five Pillars of Islam [cont.]Jihad (sacred struggle) sometimes called the “sixth pillar”

• For some it means the extension of Muslim lands (dar al-Islam)

• For others it means personal struggle

Faithful Muslims will attain paradiseMany parallels among Islam, Judaism, and Christianity


Responses to MuhammadResidents of Mecca found his moral teachings too demanding and questioned his mental stabilityMeccan Christians and Jews did not believe their monotheism needed purificationDeath of many of first-generation followers caused remainder to relocate


Responses to Muhammad [cont.]The Hijira and the Islamic Calendar

• Muhammad invited to Medina to adjudicate dispute• Flight to Medina (622 C.E.) known as hijira and is Year

One of the Islamic calendar• Converted many in Medina but not Jews• Created religious community (umma) interlocked with

Islamic government (dar al Islam) • Formulated legal code based on the Quran


Responses to Muhammad [cont.]Muhammad Extends His Authority

• Warfare between early Muslims and Mecca with Muhammad ultimately winning in 630 C.E.

• Muslims destroyed Meccan idols, captured Ka’aba, and turned it and its sacred black rock into Islmic shrine

• By time of Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims were well on their way to creating an Arabia-wide federation dedicated to faith and the political structure of Islam


Responses to Muhammad [cont.]Connections to Other Monotheistic Faiths

• Muslims claim Abraham (Hebrew) as the first Muslim and see Jews, Christians, and Muslims as “children of Abraham”

• Accept earlier prophets including Jesus as people whose ideas were later corrupted by followers

• Believe there will be no further revelations• Christians and Jews allowed to practice their faith but

were subject to a special tax

Successors to the Prophet

Problem of successor to Muhammad initially met by election of close associates as caliph

Military successes spread Islam: Damascus in 636 and Jerusalem in 638

Administered conquered lands with garrison towns which were unstable

Islam an empire or a religion?


Religious Conflict and Sunni-Shi’a DivisionShould caliph be from Muhammad’s family [Shi’ites] or from Ummayad clan of recent caliphs [Sunni] ?

Two Shi’a caliphs were assassinated and war broke out (680); eleven Shi’a imams or caliphs were assassinated in all

Shi’a wanted imam to model religious principles; opponents saw post as political


Religious Conflict and the Sunni-Shi’a Division [cont.]

Hereditary line of Muhammad’s family ended with the disappearance of the “twelfth imam” – hidden by God

Office of caliph no longer exists but dispute continues

83% of Muslims are Sunni today


Umayyad Caliphs Build an EmpireUrban life eroded tribal life, created class differences, and mixed Arab and non-Arab elites

Used Byzantine and Persian governing practices

Revolts from 740s onward but some military victories including Talas River (751), which halted Chinese advance westward. (Tang Empire forces)


The Third Civil War and the Abbasid Caliphs

From northern Iran Abbasids claimed caliphate in 750

Continued imperial quest of the Umayyads

Abbasids successfully ruled empire for a century with centralized administration and good local relations


The Weakening of the CaliphateAbbasids faced succession issues and civil war

Began to rely more on slave troops

Civilian administration became more corrupt

Tax collection became exploitive


The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]The Emergence of Quasi-Independent States

• Distance of rulers from people prompted revolts• Ismaili (2nd largest banch of Shi’ism)and Shi’ite leaders

promoted rebellion • In 945 rebels took control of Baghdad and effectively

ended the empire, but allowed Abbasids to continue to rule in name only

• Arrival of Seljuk Turks led to creation of sultanate over government while Abbasids administered the religious side (1055)


The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]Mongols and the Destruction of the Caliphate

• Temujin (later called Chinngis Khan) forged alliance with Turks and built extensive empire

• Hulegu, grandson of Chinngis Kahan and ruler of much of SE Asis, conquered Baghdad (1258) and executed Abbasid caliph

• Death of Hulegu’s brother and military defeat ended expansion of Mongol empire

• Muslims continued to expand and win converts despite military defeats

Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering

Fall of Caliphate in 1258 meant fall of umma

Some scholars saw this as decline of Islam

Others point to continued spread of Islam and its acceptance by Mongol descendents

Current distribution of Muslims shows presence in areas never reached by Caliph or converted after end of caliphate


Islam Reaches New PeoplesIndia

• Muslim raids into India led to conquest of Delhi by 1211 and creation of Delhi Sultanate (1211-1526)

• Controlled subcontinent by 1335• Most Muslim rulers accommodated Hinduism• Converts to Islam escaped “untouchable” status• Many Muslims were near the top of the social hierarchy


Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]Southeast Asia

• Most conversions occurred in 14-15th centuries

Sub-Saharan Africa• Islam arrived via traders and Sufis• Ghana was major trading center, rival of Arabs• Traders converted to Islam; masses in 19th century• Wave of conversions accompanied defeat of Ghana by

Almoravids


Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]Sub-Saharan Africa [cont.]

• Mansa Musa of Mali, orthodox Muslim, made hajj in 1324 and revealed wealth of area

• Timbuktu a major center of learning• Spread of Islam into East Africa met fierce

resistance in Christian Ethiopia


Law Provides an Institutional FoundationLegal system of Islam, shari’a, survived fall of caliph

Laws administered by religious scholars (ulama)


Sufis Provide Religious MysticismThe Role of Mysticism

• Rose as rejection of materialism of Umayyad• Sufis enabled followers to experience God

directly• Sufis attracted adherents with simplicity• Some emphasized ecstatic practices

(characterized by ecstasy) while others were more sober and meditative


Intellectual AchievementsHistory

• Formal history introduced by al-Tabari (c. 839-923) A prominent historian and interpreter of the Qur’an

• Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was first to apply social science theory to the understanding of history

• Favored cyclical view of history where new waves of invasion introduced new cycles of history


Intellectual Achievements [cont.]Philosophy

• Studied philosophy from Greeks and Indians• Attracted to Platonism• Mutazilites argued that Quran should be seen

as metaphorical, not literal, word of God.• Enabled Christian and Jewish philosophers to

encounter Greek and Indian texts due to their interaction with multiple societies.


Intellectual Achievements [cont.]Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine

• Astronomy texts from India to Baghdad by 770• al-Khwarazmi (d. c. 846) developed algebra• Medical cures were spread around the empire• Qanum fi’l-tibb (Canon of Medicine) of Ibn Sina

(d. 1037) dominated Christian medical thinking for three hundred years. Served as a chief medical text for 500 years.


The Extension of TechnologyIslam a communication network connecting all major Eurasia civilizationsExchanged information with all of themAgricultural exchange extensiveUsed irrigation to offset absence of monsoon rains prevalent in India, source of many new crops


City Design and ArchitectureMuslim governments built great cities

Mosques were a necessary element of every city and neighborhood

Writings of Ibn Battuta-travelled the entire Islamic territory, underscore link between cities, commerce, and travel

Relations with Non-Muslims

Dhimmi StatusThree choices for non-Muslim in Muslim state

• Conversion• Dhimmi Status

– For worshippers of one God who accepted Muslim rule

– Status defined by The Pact of Umar (634-644) Defined their legal status within Muslim lands

– Paid special tax but could worship in their own faith

– Couldn’t build new churches, seek converts, wear Muslim clothing, or build houses higher than Muslim houses

• Fight against the Muslim state


The Crusades (1095-1291)Called by Pope Urban II at request of Alexius I

Were political as much as religious efforts

Early crusades were successful and brutal

European crusaders were mercenaries

Crusades could capture but not hold holy places of Christianity

Crusades divided Christianity along east-west lines


A Golden Age in SpainBerbers revitalized Spanish culture and broke Byzantine control of trade in western Mediterranean

End of Spanish caliphate (1030) opened door to start of Christian reconquista

Rich hybrid culture survived in midst of reconquista

Ferdinand and Isabella defeated Muslims in 1492 and expel Jews from Spain; Muslims follow

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: What Difference Do They Make?

Sources of friction among religions with common heritage

Are proselytizing religions in search of convertsEach sought to be the government in its areas of predominanceEach became identified with a specific geographic regionBut there was also peaceful coexistence

Documents

Chapter 11: Islam Islam means “submission” in Arabic Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and deeds (hadith) are basis of Islam Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s