Arab Empires

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Arab Empires

• Unit 2 Extension of Islamic Notes

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From your Reading
Arab Empires

• What was the Kaba?
• Explain the split between the Sunni Shiite.
• How did the Umayyad first respond to Muhammads
  new religion
• What are the five pillars?

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Technology etc
Arab Empires

• Arab scholars read translated Western works
  philosophy (like Plato, Aristotle), mathematics
  from India etc
• Got papermaking from China
• Perfected Astrolabe (device for sailing using
  stars)
• Study medicine, medical encyclopedias, attributed
  spread of disease to unsanitary conditions

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Umayyad and Muhammad

• Initially worried about Muhammads influence
• War with Muhammad and Medina
• Muhammad wins Umayyad convert to Islam
• After Muhammads death Four Rightly Guided
  Caliphs
• Umayyad take over Caliphate after Ali is
  assassinated

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Umayyads
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Umayyads 661-750

• 661 Muawiyah became caliph
• Made position hereditary, started dynasty
• Moved capital from Medina to Damascus
• Conquered the Berbers, pastoral North Africans
• Occupied Spain defeated in France in 732
• Internal struggles cause revolts by son of Ali
• Abu al-Abbas led a revolt in the
  northeastUmayyads overthrownWHY?

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Umayyads 661-750

• Expanded rapidly through North Africa, Spain,
  Middle East, South Asia
• Created capital in Damascus
• Treated non-Arab converts (Mawali) poorly
• Instituted Sharia Law
• Umayyads did not seek to convert people (tax
  reasons)
• Women given high status through Islam
• Dhimmis treated better by Umayyads than in
  Byzantium or Sassanian empires.

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Abbasid
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Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258

• Overthrow Umayyad b/c corruption
• New Capital Bagdad (on Tigris)
• Increased Persian influence (Iran)
• All Muslims, Arab or not, could hold military and
  civilian positions
• Women in harems, covered to protect men from
  their lust married very young
• Required slavery for soldiers and service but not
  allowed to enslave Muslims

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Politics
Abbasid Dynasty

• Center of trade empire extending to Asia, Africa
  and Europe
• Caliph became more regal
• Expanded bureaucracy
• Vizier, prime minister, and council advised the
  caliph
• Even more control and centralized than Umayyad

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Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258 cont

• Harun al-Rashid
• Dynasties golden age
• Charity, patronage of the arts
• Not provide for an heir
• Learning at the Baghdad House of Wisdom

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Disintegration
Abbasid Dynasty

• Sons of al-Rashid fought to take control
• Financial corruption
• Non-Arabs fill key govt positions
• Rulers of provinces began to break from central
  govt
• Retention of regional identities
• Largeness of Empire

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Seljuk Turks

• Nomadic people from central Asia
• Converted to Islam (Sunni) prospered as soldiers
  to Abbasid
• 1055 leader captured Baghdad
• Sultan- holder of the power political/military
  power in Abbasid Empire
• 1071 Byzantines challenged them Turks took over
  Anatolian Peninsula
• Byzantine asked for help started the crusades

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Crusades.

• Most to be learned when discuss Middle Ages in
  Europe Stay tuned

• 1169 Saladin took control of Fatimid dynasty in
  Egypt 1187 went on offensive to take back
  Jerusalem after 1st Crusade won because of
  political strife between Islamic powers

• Crusades breed mistrust between Muslims and
  Christians Christians take Islamic technology

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The Mongols
Again find elsewhere when discuss invasions
during this time period

• Pastoral people from Mongolia
• Destroyed mosques, invaded Abbasid caliphate
• Seized most of Asia, never made it to Africa b/c
  Mamluk resistance
• Turk slave-soldiers who overthrew Saladins
  administration
• Mongols converted to Islam, integrated into lands
• By 1300s, split into separate kingdoms

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Mongol Empire