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World History:The Earth and its Peoples
Chapter 8
The Sasanid Empire and the Rise of Islam,
200 - 1200 C.E.
Objectives
• Determine how the social and political developments under the Sasanid Empire paved the way for the spread of Islam.
• Illustrate how the Arab conquests grew out of the career of Muhammad.
• Identify the reasons for the breakup of the caliphate.
• Discuss the relationship between urbanization and the development of Islamic culture.
Sasanid Empire, 224-651 CE
Sasanid Empire– Present-day Iran– Rivalry with E. Roman Empire
• trade and incursion
• Ctesiphon– cosmopolitan capital on Tigris
• Arab pastoralists– merchants and mercenaries
• caravaneers; military saddle
• Silk Road– cotton, sugarcane, rice
Sasanid Empire, 224-651 CE
Religion– Zoroastrianism
• state religion of Sasanid– Christianity
• state religion of Byzantium• Armenian Nestorians
– Jesus: human and divine– Heretics– The Nicene Creed
• political pawns in Sasanid• penetration into Arabian peninsula
• both religions were intolerant– religion as politics– religion key identifier– Manichaean
• battle between good and evil• sets stage for rise of Islam
The Origins of Islam
Location– Arabian interior; out of ‘sight’– S. Arabia as inhabitable; urban– contact via caravan trade
Mecca– Isolated caravan city– Ka’ba pilgrimage site
• Abraham as builder– Ishmael ‘sacrifice’
• Idols– 570 CE orphan birth
• Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad– caravan interests– only son died in childhood
• Meditation– revelations from Gabriel – 610 CE
• “Night of Power and Excellence”• Khadija, Ali, Abu Bakr
– preaching• One creator god (Allah)• judgment day
– Christianity and Judaism• Islam – surrender to will of God• Muslim – one who submits
– more perfect message• No editing process
• Threat to Meccan leaders
3:32
Formation of the Umma
Medina– 215 mile north of Mecca -622 CE– hijra
• Beginning of Muslim calendar
• Umma– Islamic community
• Muhammad as God’s messenger
• Expulsion of Jews
• Surrender of Mecca – 630 CE– God on Muhammad’s side
• New Arab state based on a common religious faith
Islamic Succession
Muhammad’s Death – 632 CE– no son as successor– only prophet has revelations
• Abu Bakr– khalifa – successor
1. Maintain Five Pillars of Islam– one god / prophet– prayer– Ramadan fasting– alms– Mecca pilgrimage - hajj
2. Muslim authority– caliphate
Islamic Succession
Quran – 650 CE– book of Muhammad’s revelations– unalterable word of god
Trouble in the ranks– Caliph assassins– 4th caliph
• Ali– Battle of the Camel – 656 CE
» Ali’s legitimacy
• Umayyad Caliphate– Mu’awiya
• Son Yazid as successor– Husayn
• Ali’s son assassinated – 680 CE• Beginning of Shite religious sect
Islamic Succession
Shite– Ali as rightful successor
• descendents as Imams– secular, not religious
Sunnis– 1st 3 caliphs properly chosen– chosen caliphs as Imams
4:47
Islamic Conquests, 634-711 CE
2nd Caliph (Umar)– Syria, Egypt, Tunisia (634-644)– Spain and Sind (711 CE)
• Reasons for success– political and economical– sophistication
• authority of Medina– no forced religious conversion
Umayyad Caliphate - 661-750 – Arab rather than religious
empire– adapted Byzantine / Sasanid
administration
• Decline– unrest among non-Arab Muslims
demanding political power
Abbasid Caliphate
Abbasid Caliphate - 750-1258– “Golden Age”– cosmopolitan culture in Baghdad
• translations to Arabic• adopted ways of Sasanids• conversion of non-Arabs• abundance of literary works
– The Arabian Nights
Decline– too big to rule effectively– local principalities withheld taxes
• mamluks– standing army of Turkic slaves– Buyids family
• northern Iran
Political Fragmentation
Samanids– Iranians at Bukhara– Persian literary influence
Fatimids– Egyptians at Cairo– Mediterranean economic power
Umayyad– al-Andalus, Spain– blended Roman, Germanic, Jew
with Arab and Berber– title of caliph (929 CE)
• response to Fatimid claim– Jewish thinkers and writers
• contributions to cultural growth
• ulama - religious scholars
Nomadic Upsurge
Seljuk Turks - 1030– nomads from steppes north of
Black, Caspian, Aral Seas– Tughril Beg
• shah• 1st Turkish Muslim state
– Battle of Manzikert - 1071• Byzantine Anatolia
• Effects– cities shrank (food supply)– irrigation suffered; taxes short– aloof to religious infighting– withering of Baghdad
Muslim Unification
Saladin– ends Fatimid Caliphate - 1171– Egypt and Syria– captures Jerusalem - 1187
• defeats Crusaders– fight off future Crusades
Turkish Mamluks– seize power in 1250
• result of Crusades– defeat Mongols in 1260
Islamic Civilization
Sharia– Islamic law
• no legal legal system in place• sunna
– Muhammad’s example
– hadith• reports of Muhammad’s words
and deeds• second only to the Qur’an• incorporated by legal scholars
• Vision– common moral values– minimize ethnic and political
divisions
Islamic Civilization
Conversion– gradual learning about Islam
• death and taxes• learn for themselves
– no priests
– simple process• Arabic profession of faith
– literacy
– major cause of urbanization• religion as identity• economic opportunity in cities• cities as centers of Islam
– growth of market economy• advances in math and sciences
Islamic Society
Women– status deduced from men– no public role in society
• own property, initiate divorce• public veiling
– fear of sexual infidelity and meddling in politics
• Ex: A’isha
Slavery– forbade enslaving ‘People of the
Book”
Education– madrasas– Sufism
• direct union with God through rituals and training