Origins of Islamic Civilization contested term

1
Origins of Islamic Civilizationcontested term

• Reli 180
• Introduction to Islamic Civilization
• August 25, 2008

2
Brief history of Civilization, 1

• Aristotle on development of life in cities
• Al-Farabi (d. 950) calls this tamaddun ???? ,
  from city (madina ????? )
• Ibn Khaldun (d. 1382) refers to urban or
  sedentary life as hadara ????? and opposes it to
  nomadic life in the desert (badawa ????? ), as
  the two main forms of human society (umran ?????)

3
Brief history of Civilization, 2

• Dr. Samuel Johnson rejects the term
  civilization from his dictionary (1775)
• French and English authors nevertheless start
  using the term around 1790
• Denotes only European countries as opposed to
  barbarians of Asia, Africa, America
• Justification for colonialism (French mission
  civilizatrice or civilizing mission)

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Brief history of Civilization, 3

• Samuel Huntington (quoting Bernard Lewis) in
  1993/96 writes on Clash of Civilizations in
  post-Soviet context
• President Khatami of Iran proposes dialogue of
  civilizations (guft-o-guy tamaddoni ??? ? ???
  ?????) in 1996 adopted as theme by UN in 2001

5
Aims of Eggers book preface

• the tension between adherence to tradition on
  the one hand and adaptation to changing
  conditions of the other (xii)
• intellectual and political development receive
  more attention than social and economic history
• Stages in historical development, varieties of
  expression of Islam
• Muslim political unity was shattered

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Formative period, 610-950

• Continuity of Islamic identity in the absence of
  central religious authority
• Consequent religious differences among Muslims
• Arab Empire why not Muslim?
• Continuities with Roman (Byzantine) and Persian
  empires

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The Middle East in the sixth century CE
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Southwestern Asia in the seventh century
Byzantine Empire

• Hellenistic Greek-ish civilization after
  Alexander dominance of Greek language
• resentment of Byzantine dominance, religious
  dissent
• Monophysites Coptic (Egypt), Jacobites (Syria),
  Armenians Nestorians Orthodox
• Arabs in the Byzantine world Palmyra, Ghassanid
  kingdom

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Sasanian Empire (226-642 CE)

• Desert surrounded by mountains
• Agricultural valleys of Central Asia
  (Transoxiana, beyond the Oxus)
• Dense population South of the Caspian
• Religious ideas of Zoroastrianism Resurrection,
  judgment, heaven and hell, Satan, Messiah
  (adopted byJews)
• Large Christian and Jewish communities

10
Imperial Persia Ctesiphon
11
Imperial Persian Persepolis
12
Capture of Roman Emperor Valerian by Sasanian
(Persian) Emperor Shapur
13
Irano-Semitic culture and rise of Arabs

• Academy of science and philosophy at Jundishapur
• Arabs in Iraq (Christian), client Lakhmid kingdom
  with poetic tradition
• Exhaustion of Byzantine and Persian empires

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The Arabian Peninsula

• South Yemen, luxury trade oases
• North Petra, capital of the Nabateans

Petra
Marib Dam
15
Changes in the Arabian Peninsula

• Domestication of the camel, 500-100 BCE
• Nomads and semi-nomads, tribal society
• Relations with Ethiopia (Axum)
• Jewish rule in Yemen, Christian invasion

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The Rise of Islam -- Mecca

• Regional trade
• Religious background monotheistic hanifs, Jews
  and Christians Allah
• Emphasis on Gods unity, conscientious use of
  wealth
• Opposition of Meccan pagans
• Shift to Medina
• The economy of raiding

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Text, Page 28 the Death of the Prophet

• Creation of a polity in Arabia as a substitute
  for tribal membership
• Ultimate loyalty to God rather than ones tribe
• Question what are the continuities with the past
  in the new Arab regime?