The Rise of Islam 632 1200

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The Rise of Islam 632 - 1200
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After Muhammads death, Abu Bakr chosen Caliph or
successor

• Continues belief in 5 Pillars
• Continues fight to consolidate Muslim authority
  in Arabia and non-Arab areas in Iraq.
• (630) Orders Muhammads secretaries to compile
  his revelations into a book, the Quran or
  recitation.
• Muslims regard Quran not as words of Muhammad,
  but as unalterable words of God.

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Five Pillars
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Koran
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Wars of Succession

• After much political intrigue, the Sunnis
  establish the Umayyad Caliphate.
• Husayn (Shiia) revolts in 680 to reestablish the
  right of Alis family to rule.
• Husayn and his family are killed by forces loyal
  to the caliph.

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Rise Fall of the Caliphate, 632 - 1258

• Arab conquests outside Arabia
• Syria Egypt from Byzantine Empire
• 711 Tunisia Spain by Arab led army composed of
  Berbers.
• 1000s conquest of India, Anatolia
• Also exported peacefully by trade in sub Saharan
  Africa.

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Decision made to prohibit Arab armies from owning
conquered territories - do get regular pay
booty.

• Live in large camps in Iraq, Egypt Tunisia
• Preserves status quo in countryside where non
  Arab locals do not understand Arabic
• Self isolating ruling minority lives on taxes on
  non-Muslims - thus no incentive for missionary
  outreach

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Umayyad rule from Damascus

• Adopt administrative practices of Sasanid
  Byzantine predecessors

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Umayyad Caliphate falls in 750

• Non Arab converts resented inequality
• Arabs of Iraq resent Syrian influence in
  political affairs.
• Pious Muslims felt caliphs were irreligious
• Shiites attacked Umayyad family's legitimacy.
  (One rebellion brings down Umayyad. However, one
  branch escapes to Spain and establishes kingdom).

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Abbasid Caliphate 750 - 1258

• Starts as Shiite soon becomes Sunni.
• Seat of power was transferred from Syria to Iraq
  with the building of the city of Baghdad.
  Administration was placed in the hands of the
  Persian Barmakid family
• Sasanid Persian models of court etiquette and
  government were introduced into the Abbasid style
  of rulership.

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Increasingly non Arabs convert

• Greek, Persian, African Central Asians convert
  leading to a more secular urbanized rule.
• Desert traditions replaced by poetry, wine the
  like
• The reign of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) is widely
  regarded as the apex of Abbasid power and
  achievement. Often referred to as a Golden
  Age. Great works from Greek, Persian Indian
  are translated

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Scherazade Gold Dinar
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Signs of Weakness

• Influence of regime is minimal in countryside
• Egypt stays mainly Coptic
• Iran never adopts Arabic as spoken language
• Berber speaking N. Africans rebel leave

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850 - 1050 Political Fragmentation as Caliph
slowly losses power

• Breakaway groups dont repudiate Islam, but do
  cut tax revenue
• Lacking trust in troops from the provinces,
  Caliph uses Turkic slaves from central Asia
  called Mamluks.
• When unpaid can unseat Caliph.
• Move from Baghdad to Samsara strengthens Mamluks

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Samarra
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Weakening from Inside

• Even in Iraq Abbasid authority was fading.
  Extravagant expenditures, an inflated
  bureaucracy, and dwindling revenues produced
  financial chaos. The caliphs attempted to solve
  this problem by granting tax-farms to governors
  and military commanders, thus effectively
  decentralizing and reducing Abbasid authority

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Shiite Control

• In 945, the Buyid Muizz al-Dawla entered
  Baghdad, and the title "Commander of Commanders"
  and control of the Abbasid seat of power passed
  into the hands of a Shiite dynasty

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Important Non Arabic Literature

• Written in Persian with Arabic letters
• Growth in outlying provinces paralled caliphates
  decline.
• 875 Samanids - Iranian family established a
  glittering court in Bukhara, a major city on the
  Silk Road in what is now Uzbekistan.

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Bukhara
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Bukhara II
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In N. Africa Berber Revolts against Arabs 740

• Led to establishment of city states of Sijilmasa
  and Tahert whose trade with southern Sahara in
  salt and eventually gold makes them wealthy.

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Sijilmasa Medieval City of Gold
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Ghana

• Earliest winner of gold trade. This land of
  gold prospered until 1076 when it was conquered
  by nomads.

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North African city states conquered by Fatamid
Dynasty

• Established in Tunisia 909.
• Conquer Egypt in 969 claim title of caliph in
  challenge to Abassid.
• Wealth of gold trade establishes Egypt as major
  center of Islamic culture.

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Al-Andalus

• Umayyad Spain distinctive culture blending Roman,
  Germanic, Jewish, Arab Berber traditions.
• Cordoba, Seville Toledo governing cities
• New citrus crops advanced irrigation gives it
  best agriculture in Europe

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Al-Andalus

• Some of greatest writers thinkers in Jewish
  history worked in Muslim Spain such as Halevi
  Maimonides.
• At same time Islamic thought also flourished.
  Ibn Hazm, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) are examples.

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Decline

• From the time of the Buyid occupation of Baghdad
  until its destruction by the Mongols in 1258, the
  Abbasid caliphate remained a purely formal
  institution
• After the dissolution of the Buyids in the
  mid-eleventh century, their place was filled by
  the Turkish Seljuks, who took the title of
  Sultan.

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Seljuk Turks

• Their rule reunified the Muslim state from Syria
  to Tranoxiana and stamped out the last Shiite
  revolutionary movements in the area of their
  control these actions helped to enhance the
  prestige of the caliphate against their Fatimid
  rivals in Egypt.

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Under Sunni Turkish rule

• Cities shrank, irrigation works suffered, tax
  revenue fell.
• Seljuks decline around time First Crusade
  captured Jerusalem in 1099.
• New Empire led by Kurdish Saladin take control of
  Egypt Syria after Fatamid Dynasty fell.

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Saladins dynasty ends when, in 1250, Turkish
Mamluk troops seized control of Cairo

• Mamluks defeat Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260
• Rule Egypt Syria until 1517

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End of Abassid Caliphate

• With the breakup of the Seljuq sultanate in the
  twelfth century, a power vacuum was left in Iraq
  enabled the caliph al-Nasir (1180-1225) to make
  an attempt to restore Abbasid power. However, his
  successors were incompetent, and the last caliph
  in Iraq, al-Mutasim, was unable to offer any
  resistance to the Mongols when they arrived in
  Baghdad in 1258.

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Islamic Civilization

• Sharia - the law of Islam is the foundation of
  their civilization.
• Hadith - studying precise words or deeds of
  Muhammad help back the Sharia. Sunnis have 6
  books of hadiths Shiites 4.
• Sharia important basis for urban lifestyle that
  varied little from Morocco to India

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Conversion

• Some convert to get ahead
• Others convert to escape tax on non - Muslims
• Some convert from learning about new rulers
  religion.
• Also, conversion is easy. Simply state belief in
  front of a Muslim

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Science technology flourish

• Doctors and astronomers building on Hellenistic
  traditions their own observations exceed
  Europeans.

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Islam, Women Slaves

• Seclusion of women veiling in public already
  existed in Sasanid Byzantine times. Now they
  become fixtures of Muslim life.
• A man could have sex with as many slave
  concubines as he wished, in addition to marrying
  as many as 4 wives.

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Islamic law gave women greater status than
Christian or Jewish law.

• Could remarry get cash payment in a divorce.
• Practice birth control
• Testify in court, but testimony counted less than
  men
• Is a misogynistic tone in Islam.

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Slavery

• Allowed but not to people of the book
• Prisoner of war enslavement exception
• Constant flow of slaves into Islamic territory
  from Africa central Asia
• No hereditary slave society develops