From Umayyad to Abbasid Empires

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From Umayyad to Abbasid Empires
ARAB
ISLAMIC
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Rise of Abbasid Party

• The party traced its descent from Muhammads
  uncle, al-Abbas.
• Al-Abbas great great grandson, Abu al-Abbas led
  his forces against the Umayyads.
• Shia were his allies.
• Mawali (Islamic converts) also supported him to
  gain acceptance in the community of believers.
• Captured Umayyad capital in Syria (Battle of
  River Zab).
• At Reconciliation Banquet al-Abbas slaughtered
  remaining Umayyad family.

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Early Abbasid Era

• Began to reject Shia and Malawi alliesand
  defended Sunni Islam.
• Built a centralized, absolutist imperial order.
• New capital Baghdad The Round City (2km in
  diameter) on Tigris River
• Baghdad became the richest city in the world
  (only Constantinople came close)
• Sat on jeweled thrones. Had palaces and harems!
  Image of elitism was important.
• For more than a century, able to collect revenue
  and preserve law over much of the empire.

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Islamic Conversion and Mawali Acceptance

• Mass conversions to Islam were encouraged
  throughout the empire.
• Most converts were won over peacefully because of
  appeal of Islamic beliefs and advantages they
  enjoyed
• - didnt have to pay head tax
• - educational opportunities
• - jobs as traders, administrators, judges
• What kind of CONVERSION is this? (think Bentley
  Reading!)

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Town Country Commercial Boom and Agrarian
Expansion

• Abbasid Era was a great time of urban expansion
  and growth of merchant and landlord classes.
• Tang Song Dynasties in China were also reviving
  middle merchant class. (results of falls of
  Rome/Han)
• Arab DHOWS - trading vessels with triangular
  (lateen) sails were used from Mediterranean to S.
  China Sea. This style later influenced European
  ship design.

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Town Country Commercial Boom and Agrarian
Expansion, cont..

• Muslim merchants formed joint ventures with
  Christian and Jewish traders.
• Because each merchant had a different Sabbath,
  they could work 7 days/week.
• Merchants grew rich supplying cities with goods
  throughout the empire.
• Much wealth went to charity (required by Quran).
  
• Hospitals and medical care of the Abbasid Empire
  surpassed those of any other civilization of that
  time.

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Town Country Commercial Boom and Agrarian
Expansion, cont..

• Much unskilled labor was left to slaves.
• Some slaves were able rise to positions of power
  and gain freedom (like what other empire?)
• Huge estates might have slaves, indentured
  servants or sharecroppers.

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The First Flowering of Islamic Learning

• Early contributions from Abbasid were great
  mosques and palaces. Ex Dome of the Rock
• Advances in religious, legal and philosophical
  discourse.
• Science and Math! Abbasid scholars preserved
  Greek works of medicine, algebra, geometry,
  astronomy, anatomy, and ethics.
• Arabic traders in India carried the Indian number
  system across Mediter. and into Northern Europe.
  These number systems became ESSENTIAL to
  Scientific Revolution in W. Europe.

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Global Connections Early Islam the World

• Abbasid Empire was the go-between for the
  ancient civilizations of the Eastern
  Hemispherethis role grew as Arab trade networks
  expanded.
• Islam pioneered patterns of organization and
  thinking that would affect human societies in
  major ways for centuries.
• 5 Centuries Spread of Islam played a dominant
  role in the Afro-Eurasian World.

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Global Connections Early Islam the Worldcont.

• In the midst of achievement, Muslims were people
  had some growing disadvantages, especially to
  Europeans.
• Muslim divisions would leave openings for
  political problems.
• Growing intolerance and orthodoxy led to the
  belief that the vast Islamic world contained all
  requirements for civilized life, which caused
  Muslim people to grow less receptive to outside
  influence and innovationsled to isolation at a
  time when Christian rivals were in a period of
  experimentation and exploration.