Islamic Civilizations

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Islamic Civilizations
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Geography

• Arabian Peninsula
• 1 million square miles
• Three continents
• Located between Red Sea and Persian Gulf
• Arid and desert
• Oasis

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Bedouin

• Nomadic Arabic herders
• Lived in kin related clans
• Highly mobile
• Tent encampments
• Strong on loyalty and cooperation of kin
• Wealth and status based on possession of animals
• Lead by Shaykhs (Sheikh)
• Only united for wars and severe crisis

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• Society
• Shaykhs
• Free warriors
• Slaves
• Herders
• Religion
• Blend of animism and polytheism
• Focus on worship of nature spirits
• Culture
• Chief focus on oral poetry
• Little on art or architecture

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• Warfare important part of life
• Conflict over pastureland/watering holes
• Defend ones honor
• eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth
• Inter clan rivalries will weaken Bedouin clans
  compared to neighboring people
• Most significant culture in shaping the
  development of Islam

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Makkah (Mecca)

• Market town
• Crossroads
• 50 miles from Red Sea
• Founded by Umayyad clan
• Kaaba
• Holy shrine
• Statutes of many Arab deities
• Annual truce

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Women Pre-Islamic Arabia

• Women had greater freedom
• Varied from tribe to tribe
• Key economic role milking, weaving, kids
• Not covered or secluded
• Greater freedom and higher status than women of
  the Persian and Byzantine Empire
• Lineage matrilineal
• Also allowed multiple marriages
• But men still greater authority
• Earn status through war/battle
• Men only polygamy

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• Hanifs
• Rejected the worship of idols
• Believed in one God
• Rejected Judaism and Christianity
• Out of this Islam will develop

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Muhammad

• Born into Quraysh tribe-
• Banu Hashim clan
• orphan-raise by family
• Caravan leader
• Exposed to Christian and Jewish faith
• Marry well and was free of money concerns
• Upset with greed of Makkah
• Fast, pray and meditated
• 610 AD had an revelation
• Voice calling him
• Only one true God-- Allah

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• Muhammad preached
• Ethical system
• There is only one God that people everywhere must
  worship and obey him
• All that believe are equal
• God measures the worth by their devotion and good
  deeds
• Responsibility of the wealthy and strong to care
  fore the poor and weak
• Tax for Charity
• Prepare for Day of Judgment
• God punishes evildoers and reward the just

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• Religion becomes known as Islam
• Submission
• followers are called Muslim
• Attracted poor
• Umayyad wealthy merchants and religious leaders
  upset
• Afraid it would stop pilgrimages to the Kaaba
• Question the traditional Kaaba gods
• Result Muhammad and Muslims persecuted

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Hijrah

• 622 AD Muhammad flees persecution
• Threat of assassination
• Ask to mediate dispute between Bedouin tribes and
  Jews
• Yathrib
• Renames Madinah (Medina)
• Marks the beginning of Islamic era
• First year of Muslim calendar

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• Madinah Compact
• Decreed that all Muslims to place loyalty to
  Islamic community above the tribe
• All areas of life placed under divine law given
  to Muhammad and Quran (Koran)
• Extended protection to Jews and Christians who
  accepted Islams political authority
• Must accept Muhammad as the final prophet
• His revelations are final authority

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• Umayyad threaten by Islam
• Growing power in Madinah
• Initial response was to ignore Muhammad as long
  as he remain in Madinah
• More difficult as Muhammad called for raids on
  caravans heading to Makkah.

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• 630 AD Muhammad returns to Makkah
• 10,000 converts will enter the city
• Makkah acknowledge Muhammad as prophet
• Destroys idols of Kaaba
• Kaaba becomes Muslim most sacred place of worship

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Why was Islam able to spread so quickly and
convert so many to a new religion?

• Easy to learn and practice
• No priesthood
• Teaches equality
• Non-Muslims- Peoples of the Book were allowed
  religious freedom
• But had to pay additional taxes
• Easily portable--- nomads trade routes
• Jihad (holy war) against pagans and other non
  believers (infidels)

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Quran (Koran)

• Islamic holy scriptures
• Final authority in matters of faith and
  lifestyles
• Moral values- similar to Judaism and Christianity
• Honor parents
• Charity to poor
• Specific rules to guide daily activities
• No gambling, no pork, no alcohol
• Rules over marriage, divorce, family, inheritance
• Arabic

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• Shariah
• Body of law based on Quran and Hadith
• Hadith- sayings of Muhammad
• Laws can not be separated from religion
• Umma
• Community of believers established by Muhammad to
  oversee daily lives of followers
• Main advantage was that it transcend tribal
  boundaries and made it possible for political
  unity along the Arab clans.

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Mosque

• Place of worship

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• Three holiest cities
• Makkah
• Madinah
• Jerusalem
• Dome of the Rock

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• Dome of the Rock
• According to Islam tradition, Muhammad ascended
  into heaven in Jerusalem form the Dome of the
  Rock
• Inside the shrine is the actual rock and Muslims
  believe it has the footprints of archangel
  Gabriel on it.
• Muslims believe all souls gather under the rock
• Located on the Hebrew Temple Mount the most
  sacred site for Jews and one of the most sacred
  sites for Christians
• Reason for continuing conflict between Jews and
  Muslims today.

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Five Pillars of Islam

• Faith (Shahada)
• Confession of Faith
• Muhammad view as a Prophet not a God
• The last of Prophets
• Just not accept by Christians and Jews
• Allah is the God to Muslims, Christians and Jews
• Muslim descendants of Abraham through son Ishmael

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• Prayer (Salat)
• 5 times each day set rituals
• Facing Mecca
• Imam
• Prayer leader
• Any male with proper religious education can
  serve as imam
• Muezzin
• Calls to prayer from a minaret

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• Alms (Zakat)
• Charity
• Fasting (Sawm)
• Ramadan
• Considered a method of self-purification

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• Pilgrimage (Hajj)
• Mecca

Those who complete pilgrimage can add the title
hajji to their name
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• Jihad
• Often refer to as the sixth pillar
• Not correct in calling it a Holy war
• Better translation would be fight or strive
  in the path of Allah
• Even though the Quran contains some militant
  verses that suggest wars of conquest for
  conversion were a permissible form of jihad,
  Muhammad taught that there was a proper way to
  fight jihad.
• No harm to civilians who were not front line
  combatants
• Nor were they to destroy property or environment
• Muslims were required to offer peace first and to
  provide protected status to those who submitted
  peacefully, even if they chose not to convert

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• 632 AD Muhammad dies
• Did not provide line of succession
• How do you replace a prophet?
• Initially looks like Islam might fail with
  Muhammads death
• Some Bedouin tribes will renounced faith
• Others argued over succession
• Ridda
• Wars fought to defeat rival prophets and restore
  unity of Islam

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• Create position of Caliph
• First Caliph was Abu Bakr
• First four Caliphs called the Rightly Guided
  Caliphs
• All had personal relationship with Muhammad

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Motives for Arab conquest

• Took mind off internal problems
• Easy to beat neighbors
• Military prowess
• Religious zeal
• Weakness of border empires
• Unity of Faith gave them common cause
• Pent-up energy from warrior people
• Kept tribes from fighting each other
• Booty
• Not driven by desire to win converts
• Avoid conversions
• Wanted tax money
• Key was to keep people not Muslim

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• Frustration in Islamic community
• Century of personal animosities
• Who control the booty
• Spark to conflict murder of 3rd caliph
• Member of Umayyad clan

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• Ali (son in law of Muhammad)
• regains control but does not punish assassins
• War on
• Ali winning in beginning but some will lose
  faith in him
• Muawiya
• an Umayyad claim he the new caliph
• Ali will be assassinated
• Son Husayn tries to regain power but is also
  killed

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Feud continues Today

• Backers of Umayyad vs. backers of Ali
• Caliph goes through dominant clan vs. caliph that
  goes through descendants of Muhammad
• Division into Sunni and Shiite

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Division of Islam

• Sunni
• Majority of Muslims
• Believe caliph is primarily a leader not a
  religious authority
• Any devout Muslim could serve

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• Shiite
• Believe that only a descendant of Muhammad Ali
  could be caliph
• Stress spiritual rather than political aspect of
  Islam
• Found primarily at Iran, Iraq and Lebanon

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• Both Sunni and Shiite accept
• Oneness of God
• Accept Quran
• Pilgrimage to Mecca

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Umayyad Dynasty

• 661-750
• Moved capital from Madinah to Damascus
• Caliph Uthman
• Dislike by many Arabs
• First Caliph to be chosen from Muhammads early
  enemy- Umayyads/

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• Spread of Islam into India, China, North Africa,
  Spain
• Battle of Tours
• Stop the spread of Islam into Europe
• Charles Martel
• Show tolerance to Jews and Christians

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• Arab/Muslim aristocracy ruled over
  non-Arabs/Muslims
• Tried to keep Muslims separate
• Only Muslim Arabs are First class citizens
• Dont want to lose taxes
• Remember Muslims cant tax Muslims

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• Many unhappy with Umayyad tax system
• Non Arab Muslims paid higher taxes, got lower
  wages etc.
• Mawali
• Muslim converts
• Non Arab
• But converts still had to pay taxes
• Dhimmi
• People of the Book
• Everyone else in empire who believed in another
  religion
• Muslims tolerate of other religions
• Taxes

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Family and Gender Rolein Umayyad Dynasty

• Women position actually good
• Muhammad has stressed importance of marriage,
  fatherhood adultery illegal
• Can have up to 4 wives but must be able to
  support them
• Rid of infanticide
• More property rights to women
• No Veiling Why cover? Allah made me this way
• Remember women had been some of Muhammad
  strongest early followers

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Umayyad Decline and Fall

• Umayyad caliphs growing addiction to luxury and
  soft living
• Stop fighting wars, built palaces revolts start
  around empire
• Merv
• 50,000 warriors had married local women
• Rarely given share of booty
• Annoy at Umayyad elite
• Upset that Umayyad sending in new troops
• Hurt their pride that view their warriors not
  good enough
• Joined the Abbasid movement

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• Abbasid Dynasty
• Will defeat the Umayyad
• Murder all the Umayyad ruling family except one
  who escape to Spain
• Will establish the Al Andalus in Spain
• Preserve Greco-Roman culture
• Scientific and mathematical
• Influence Spanish architecture and art

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Move capital to Baghdad Round city One of
wealthiest cities in world
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• Government
• Absolutist government
• More than Umayyad
• Growing power of wazirs
• Political advisor or minister

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Islamic Conversion and Mawali Acceptance

• Mass conversions to Islam were encouraged
  throughout empire
• Mawali received as full members of Islamic
  community
• 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

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• Abbasid Era was a great time of urban expansion
  and growth of merchant and landlord classes.
• Trade will play a major role

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• Arab DHOWS - trading vessels with triangular
  (lateen) sails were used from Mediterranean to
  South China Sea
• Later influenced European ship design

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• 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.

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• Develop the system of receipts and saaks (checks)
• Hospitals and medical care of the Abbasid Empire
  surpassed those of any other civilization of that
  time
• Artisan
• Free men
• Owned own tools
• Form guilds
• To negotiate wages

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• 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.
• Ayan
• rural landowning elite

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The First Flowering of Islamic Learning

• In religious, legal and philosophical discourse
• Science and Math!
• preserved Greek works of medicine, algebra,
  geometry, astronomy, anatomy, and ethics
• Astrolabe
• Optic surgery
• Arabic traders in India carried Indian number
  system across Mediterranean and into Northern
  Europe
• Whats the impact? Early contributions from
  Abbasid were great mosques and palaces. Ex Dome
  of the Rock
• Advances

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Declining Position of Women in the Family and
Society

• Initially Islamic world open to egalitarian
  treatment of women
• Under Abbasid
• More patriarchal authority
• Only males allowed multiple marriages
• Influence by Persians
• Harem-
• Kept women in seclusion
• Win freedom/gain power by bearing healthy sons
• Some became slaves ( actually more freedomno
  veils)
• Veil
• Actually started in Mesopotamia
• Only in public
• Within the structure women are highly protected
  and in some ways even more respected under the
  Quran

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Global Connections

• Played an significant role in preserving Western
  Culture
• Translate classic writings of Plato and Aristotle
  to Arabic
• Like Romans were tolerant of local customs of
  areas they conquered
• Abbasid Empire was go-between for ancient
  civilizations of Eastern Hemisphere
• Role grew as Arab trade networks expanded

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• 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 innovations
• led to isolation at a time when Christian rivals
  were in a period of experimentation and
  exploration

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Muslims in the World Today
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Countries with Largest Muslim Population

1. Indonesia 183,000,000 6. Iran 62,000,000
2. Pakistan 134,000,000 7. Egypt 59,000,000
3. India 121,000,000 8. Nigeria 53,000,000
4. Bangladesh 114,000,000 9. Algeria 31,000,000
5. Turkey 66,000,000 10. Morocco 29,000,000
Arabs make up only 20 of the total Muslim
population of the world