From`Abbasid Baghdad to Umayyad Cordoba, 750-

1000

750: Abbasids overcome Umayyads

• Al-Mansur and after– Taxation:

• Fiscal centralization took money from provinces to capital, Baghdad

• Reform over time; constant source of friction– Military:

• Kurasani military elite based in Baghdad, rewarded with property• Troops used mainly to control provinces, collect taxes• Al-Mu`tasim developed private army, Turkish slaves. This group

would create problems as time went on.– Administrative network:

• Separate branches of Government (diwans) with secretaries• Head of administration: visir• Chamberlain, personal assistant to caliph

• Continuous line of caliphs source of strength

Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and after

• Cultural Revival– Thousand and One Nights– “Microcultures”: religious and literary, development of

specialized disciplines– Adab: “polite education”; compare to Greek term Paidaea– Exemplary stories

• Barmakids– Dominant family, ran most of the government– Successfully oversaw centralization of tax system– 803: al-Rashid had them destroyed

• Royal women– Less powerful than Merovingian queens– Had wealth and personal administrations

Controversies

• In the Sunni Tradition: Basis for Islamic Law (Shari’a)– Legislation: by precedent– Reasoning from Qu’ran: by principles– Expanded literary sources: by tradition (hadith)– By 900: “Closing of the gate of independent reasoning”

• Applies to Islamic law, but not legal practice. What’s the difference?

• Authority of Qu’ran– Word of God, part of God– Part of created order– Al-Ma’mum: wanted caliph to have more power– Former position prevailed, leading to lessening of caliph’s

authority

Breakup of Abbasid Empire; Al-Andalus

• Breakup of Caliphate:– Reasons?

• Al-Andalus– How does it resemble the rest of the Islamic world?– How does it maintain ties with its Visigothic past?– How does it resemble other western European states?