The World of Islam

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The World of Islam
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Essential Questions

• What was the role of Muhammad in the development
  of the religion of Islam?
• What are the major characteristics of the
  religion of Islam?
• How did the Arab Empires develop and what were
  their contributions?
• What impact did the Islamic and the Arab
  civilizations have on the Byzantine Empire?

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The Arab People

• Semitic-speaking nomads of the Arabian peninsula
• Caravan trade connected the region with North
  Africa, India/China, Europe
• Polytheistic religion
• Chief god was Allah (the God)
• Kabah Black Stone in the city of Mecca (Makkah)

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Muhammad

• Born in Mecca in 570 A.D.
• Caravan trader married to Khadija
• Spoken to by Allah through the angel Gabriel
  (knowledge of Jewish and Christian religions)
• Recited what he was being told
• Began teaching
• Not accepted at first
• 622 A.D. Moved to Yathrib (Medina city of the
  prophet)
• Hegira (journey to Yathrib, year 1 of Muslim
  calendar)

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Muhammad

• Finds converts in Medina (Bedouins)
• Became religious, military, and political leader
• 630 returned to Mecca
• Took over the city, most converted
• Made Kabah sacred shrine of Islam
• Died in 632

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Islam submission to the will of Allah

• Quran (Koran) holy book
• 114 chapters
• Guidebook for ethics and code of law
• Allah is the one god and createror of everything
• Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses all prophets
  Muhammad the last and greatest
• 5 Pillars
• Allah, Prayer, Ramadan, Pilgrimage (hajj), Alms

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Arab Empire

• Caliph secular leader of Islam
• Jihad struggle in the way of God
• holy war?
• Muslim warriors believed they were given a place
  in heaven if they died in a holy war
• Abu Bakr
• Muhammads father-in-law, became caliph
• Expanded into Byzantine and Persian Empires
• Those taken over were not forced to convert, but
  did have to pay a tax

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Umayyad Dynasty

• 656 Ali becomes caliph (assassinated)
• 661 general Muawiyah starts Umayyad Dynasty
• Fighting begins over how caliph would be chosen
• Moved capital to Damascus
• Expansion reaches height
• 717 failed to take Constantinople
• 725 Spain mostly conquered
• 732 loss in France at battle of Tours
• Stops expansion of Islam into Europe!

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Islam Splits

• Non-Arab Muslims upset at how Arabs were treated
  better
• 680 Hussein (Alis second son) leads revolt in
  Iraq against Umayyad (defeated)
• Shia descendants of Ali as the true rulers of
  Islam
• Sunni Umayyad dynasty were the true caliphs

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Abbasids (750 1258)

• Umayyads became corrupt and lost control
• Abu al-Abbas set-up the Abbasid Dynasty
• Allowed all Muslims (Arab and non-Arab) to become
  leaders
• Capital of Baghdad
• Economic growth
• Fighting over next caliph
• Corruption (divorce and drinking)
• Broke apart into many small dynasties

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Seljuk Turks

• Mercenaries from central Asia that converted to
  Islam
• 1055 captured Baghdad
• Abbasid caliph still religious leader
• Sultan (holder of power) became military and
  political leader
• Conflict with Byzantine resulted in the crusades.

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Crusades and Mongols

• Crusades (starting in 1000s)
• At first Seljuk Turks ignored
• 1099 Crusaders take Jerusalem
• Saladin leads Egyptian Sunnis against Crusaders
• Mongols
• Took over Baghdad
• Eventually converted to Islam
• Islamic empire fell apart
• Mamluk (slave soldiers) establish Cairo center of
  Islamic culture
• Allowed for rise of the Ottoman Turks
• Ended the Byzantine Empire
• Ottoman Empire (1281 1920)

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Islamic Civilization

• Politics
• umma community of believers (Muslim World)
• vizier high ranking political (sometimes
  religious) leaders
• Shah, caliph, sultan
• Trade
• bazaar
• Society
• Many classes
• Christians and Jews had to pay special taxes
• Slaves
• Women

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The Culture of Islam

• Philosophy and Science
• House of Wisdom (Baghdad) held works by Plato
  and Aristotle
• Paper from China, math from India
• Math Arabic system, 0, algebra
• Astronomy studied stars, astrolabe
• Medicine
• Literature
• Arabic language
• Omar Khayyam (The Arabian Nights)
• Art and Architecture
• Mosques
• Influence in Spain