Unit 3 test (Islamic world)

Who inhabited Arabia?

Bedouins (nomadic people who herded animals)

Muhammad’s early years

• Member of most popular tribe, the Quraysh

• Lots of corruption in regards to access to the Kaaba

• Began to meditate outside city of Mecca

Hajj:

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Umma:

The community of all believers

Dhimmis:

Second class/non islamic citizens

Jihad:

 Struggle, both internal & external

Sharia:

Regulations on aspects of religious, political, and social life

Results of Muhammad’s message

• united Arabian tribespeople

• Great military success convinced other tribes and countries of Muhammad’s righteousness

Caliphate

Muslim empire

caliphate (city & soldiers)

• Soldiers lived near cities but in their own camps, little interaction with conquered peoples

Making of the Arabia tribes

• United tribes of Arabia fight Byzantine and Sassanid

• Once in charge, extremely tolerant of other cultures/religions

How were different religious groups protected under Caliphate empire?

• Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians were protected 2nd class citizens, or dhimmis

• Dhimmis paid Jizya, a tax on non-Muslim citizens

Habitats of caliphate vs Persia

• Over time most citizens convert to Islam or move out

• Local customs continued in Persia - Islamicized without Arabizing

Divisions among the Umma

• Two civil wars occured to determine who was the rightful Caliph

  • Sunni vs Shia

Sunni: Caliphs are the rightful rulers as they were chosen by the Umma

Shia: The leader of the Umma should be descendants of Muhammad and his family

Ummayad (1st)

• Era of expansion for Arab empire

• Sunni rule

• Very disliked by Shias and Non-Arab Muslims

• Centralized government

• Overthrown in 750 ce

ABBASID (2nd)

• Ruled by Non-Arab Persians

• Extremely decentralized

  • Ruled by local “sultanates” (Islamic monarch)

• Called Shiites

• Appealed to non-Arab Muslims and other lower class citizens

• Said Umayyads had bad character

• Spain/Egypt/North Africa begin to rule themselves

Islam in India

• Before Islam ( India primarily Hinduism)

• The first major Muslim state in India was the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 CE

• Very slow assimilation to Islam → only 25%

• Sikhism: Islam & Hinduism (rebirth + karma + one god)

  • Syncretic religion (guru Nanak)

• Major regions of conversion: Northwest India, Bengal, Regions close to Silk and Sea Roads

Islam In Anatolia

• Turks violently invade the dying Byzantine empire, which now is modern Turkey, and wipe out large portions of Byzantine society

• Christian & Greek speaking population governed by Byzantine

• Much more profound transformation compared to India 

• Lack of pop. in Byzantium - Turkish invaders made up a huge portion of the population

• Discrimination against Christians led them to leave the area

• Common beliefs made for easier conversion
  

What helped spread Islam in Anatolia?

Seljuk & Ottoman Empires offer incentives for converting

• Similar religions, sufi teachers establish institutions left behind from Byzantines, Islamization without Arabization

More egalitarian treatment of women

• Influence from past nomadic lifestyle

Islam in Africa

• Voluntary conversion to Islam

• Facilitated by North African Muslim merchants bringing their faith to city centers

• By converting to Islam, African merchants gained advantages in their trading - preferential trade

States accepted Islam for many reasons

• Trade

• Administrative help

• Linking their world to the Muslim world

Ibn Battuta

• Appalled by the lack of orthodox Muslim practice

• Cities like Timbuktu are on the peripheries of the Muslim world and follow their own path

Huge public works made for Muslims

• Timbuktu: Capital of Mali, many quranic schools

• Rulers created mosques for legitimacy reasons

• Rulers convert-regular people do not

• Only conversions occur in cities, rural people did not convert

• Even when conversion happened, traditional rituals still maintained

Islam in spain

• Very far from the Islamic heartland

• Main point of contact with Western Europe

• Many Christian and Jewish citizens

Strong intellectual pursuits in spain

• Astronomy, Medicine, Literature, Art, Architecture

• Muslim learning gets into Europe from Spain

How tolerant was Spain of islam

Very tolerant - at first

• Over time, more distrustful of second class citizens

• Constant conflict between northern Christian kingdoms and Islamic state in the south of Spain

What happened to Islam after Abbasids

After the Abbasids, Islam did not have one ruling nation

(but loose connection btw Islam & Arabic,

hajj connects Islam'

sufi teach small communities

united by silk & sand roads)

Tech after abbsaids

• Farming practices allowed for population booms

• Papermaking allowed for governments to function better

• Great strides in mathematics and the sciences

• Horticulture and Agriculture were taught at Muslim universities

• Irrigation, waterwheels, husbandry

Baghdad House of Wisdom

• Academic center that emphasized logic and reasoning (math & science)

• Read Greek literary works - Greek Rationalism

• Spread medicinal practices - used in Europe for centuries

• Bagdad: capital of Abbsaid caphilate 

Dar Al islam

• means world of muslim 

• Refers to any place that is muslim