Islam

Muhammad through the Abbasids

(c. 600 – 1258 CE)

Arabia before Islam

� Bedouin (nomadic) desert culture

� Clan loyalties = key to survival

� “Blood feuds”

� Polytheistic religion

� Herders and caravan

traders

Arabia before Islam, pt. 2

� Town/merchant culture

� Also clan-centered – linked to Bedouin

� Towns built around oases

� Main cities = Mecca and Medina

(Yathrib)• Mecca controlled by Umayyad clan of

Quraysh Bedouin tribe

• Ka’ba shrine in Mecca

Arabia before Islam, pt. 3

� Status of women in Bedouin society

� Greater freedom/higher status than in

neighboring sedentary societies

� Status/freedom varied by tribe

� Divorce, inheritance, control of property

still favored men

The Life of Muhammad

(c. 570 – 632 CE)

� Member of Quraysh tribe

� But not Umayyad clan!

� Raised as a trader

� Moved to Mecca, worked for Khadijah

� Good mediator of disputes

Muhammad, pt. 2

� Exposed to other monotheistic religions through trade

� First revelation from angel Gabriel, c. 610 CE

� Later written down in Qu’ran (Koran)

� Umayyads saw him as threat

� Fled to Medina in 622 CE

� Hijra (first year of Islamic calendar!)

� New religion = Islam

� “submission to one true God, Allah”

Muhammad, pt. 3

� War between Umayyads and Muslims

– Muhammad’s forces won!

� Returned to Mecca in 629 CE

� Smashed idols at Ka’ba

� Eventually, most Umayyads converted

� Died in 632 CE with no successor

Why was Islam attractive?

� Monotheism belonged to no tribe or clan

� Community of faithful = umma

� Strong ethical/moral component

� Dignity and equality of all believers

before God (like Christianity?)

� Social responsibility for poor

� Belief in afterlife and Last Judgment

� Freedom of worship for “People of the Book”

The Five Pillars of Islam

� “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet.”

� Pray 5 times per day, facing Mecca

� Fast during holy month of Ramadan

� Zakat - tithe for charity

� Hajj – pilgrimage to Mecca once in life

� EFFECT: Universal Religion!

Sunni vs. Shiite – the Origins

� Leadership crisis after Muhammad’s death

� Two candidates to succeed Prophet

• Ali

• Abu Bakr

� Abu Bakr chosen as caliph

• Generals expanded reach of Islam into Persian and Byzantine territory in search of war booty

Sunni vs. Shiite, pt. 2

� Umayyad clan became dominant

� Umayyads = Muhammad’s early enemies!

� Third caliph was an Umayyad

� Caliph personally very unpopular - murdered

� Supporters of Ali declared him caliph

� Umayyad rejected his claims – CIVIL WAR!

Sunni vs. Shiite, pt. 3

� Ali victorious; tried to be generous

� Assassinated, 661 CE

� Ali’s second son, Husayn, took up fight, was killed at Karbala in 680 CE

� SUNNI = UmayyadsSHIITES = Followers of Ali/Husayn

Husayn shrine in Karbala

Umayyad Caliphate

(661-750 CE)

� Spread faith and extended empire

� Byzantine territories of Syria, western Iraq, Palestine and Egypt by mid-640s CE

� Defeat of Sassanid (Persian) Empire, 651 CE

� Central Asia by 8th c. CE

� North Africa and Spain by early 8th c.

� Domination of Mediterranean • Built war fleets by 640 CE to challenge Byzantines

• Crete, Sicily and Sardinia taken by early 9th c.

� Quickest empire-building in history up to that point

Early Expansion of Islam

Umayyad Caliphate, pt. 2

� Early motives for conquest

� Revenge against non-Arab rulers

� War booty and tribute = CASH

� NOT REALLY CONVERSION!!

� Moved capital to Damascus (Syria)

� Built up bureaucracy

� But only Arab Muslims were first-class citizens

� Most subjects of empire were non-Muslim

Great Mosque - Damascus

Umayyad Caliphate, pt. 3

� “People of the Book” = dhimmi

� Jews and Christians – Bible

� Flexible definition - relaxed to include

non-Biblical religions

� Aside from paying taxes, were left to

govern themselves and worship freely

� CULTURALLY TOLERANT

Jesus Moses

Umayyad Caliphate, pt. 4

� Reasons for fall of Caliphate?

� Overthrown by Abbasids by 750 CE

� Leader = Abu al-Abbas

• Allies = dissident groups

• Shiites (still hated Umayyads!)

• Mawali (non-Arab Muslims), still 2nd-class citizens

Abbasid Caliphate

(750 – 1258 CE)

� Once in power, Abbasids rejected Shiite allies as heretics – fighting ever since!

� Built new capital at Baghdad

� Imperial bureaucracy grew

� Main advisor = wazir (vizier)

� Only effective at administering empire

and collecting taxes for approx. 100 years

• Why?

Abbasid Palace - Baghdad

Abbasid Caliphate, pt. 2

� Mass conversions to Islam

encouraged for all subjects of Empire

� War booty no longer distributed

� Mawali now equal citizens with Arabs

• Persians came to dominate administration

� Long distance trade revived

� Sea routes particularly busy

Muslim Traders (by land and sea)

Abbasid Caliphate, pt. 3

� Status of women?

� Harem reached zenith

� Veiling and seclusion of

non-slave women

(especially urban upper

classes)

� Land-owning elite

established

Decline of Abbasid Caliphate

� High peasant tax burden

� Caliphs neglected public welfare

� Former provinces of empire broke away

� Syria and Egypt

� Buyids of Persia sacked Baghdad (945 CE)

• Caliphs became puppets of Buyids

• Buyids took title of sultan (“victorious” in Arabic)

Abbasid Decline, pt. 2

� Seljuk Turks supplanted Buyids in 1055 CE

� Nomads from central Asia

� Persecuted Shiites

� Defeated Byzantines

• Opened way for settlement of Anatolia by Ottoman Turks

� Battled Crusaders from Western Europe

• First Crusade captured Jerusalem, 1099 CE

• Horrible massacre (even Christians!)

• Crusaders maintained foothold in Palestine until 1291, but mostly wiped out by Salah-ud-Din (Saladin) in late 12th c.

Abbasid Decline, pt. 3

� Mongol invasions - the “coup de grace”

� 1258 CE – Baghdad sacked and last

Abbasid caliph executed

� Mongols finally defeated by Mamluks

(originally Turkic slaves who ruled Egypt)

� 1401 CE – Baghdad sacked again by Timur

(Tamerlane)

Mongol Siege of Baghdad

Islamic Art and Science

� Abbasid Caliphate = “Golden Age”of Islamic culture, despite political turmoil

� Early Abbasid period� Mosque and palace building

flourished

� Recovery, translation and dissemination of classical texts

� Transmission of ideas• “Arabic numerals”, chess from India

� Jews, Christians and Muslims all participatedSocrates

Islamic Art and Science, pt. 2

� Persian literature

� Persian = language of “high culture”,

literature, administration and

scholarship

� Arabic = language of religion, law and

natural sciences

� Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam

Islamic Art and Science, pt. 3

� Mathematics and science

� Medicine

� Skilled astronomers and

cartographers

NOW do you recognize it?

Abbasid Religious Trends

� Ulama – orthodox scholars of Islam� Hostile to non-Muslim (classical) ideas

� Sufis

� Wandering mystics - personal union with Allah� Possible to look beyond illusory realm of senses to

find Allah – like Buddhism, but still strongly monotheistic

� Sometimes extreme asceticism

� Drugs, dancing (dervishes) to induce ecstatic trances

� Very popular – important in diffusion of Islam in S. Asia

Whirling Dervish - Sufism

Rivals to Abbasids

� Spain

� Umayyads (756 CE)

� Egypt

� Fatimids (909-1169 CE)

• Shiite

� Ayyubids (1169-1250 CE)

• Salah al-Din - Sunni

� Mamluks (1250-1517 CE)

Fatimid Architecture