Developments in Dar al-Islam (c. 1200 - c. 1450)

Vocabulary flashcards covering the rise of Islamic states, cultural innovations, and social structures in Dar al-Islam between c. 1200 and c. 1450.

Mamluks

Enslaved people, frequently ethnic Turks from Central Asia, purchased by Arabs to serve as soldiers and later as bureaucrats.

Mamluk Sultanate

The government established in Egypt ($1250—1517$) after Mamluks seized control, which prospered by facilitating trade in cotton and sugar.

Seljuk Turks

Central Asian Muslims who began conquering parts of the Middle East in the 11th century, eventually extending power as far east as Western China.

Sultan

The title used by the Seljuk leader, which reduced the role of the Abbasid caliph to chief Sunni religious authority.

House of Wisdom

A renowned center of learning in Baghdad under the Abbasid Empire where scholars traveled to study.

Crusaders

Groups of European Christian soldiers organized to reopen access to holy sites in and around Jerusalem after the Seljuk Turks limited travel.

Mongols

Conquerors from Central Asia who ended Seljuk rule and conquered the remaining Abbasid Empire in $1258$, but were stopped in Egypt by the Mamluks.

Abbasid Empire

An Islamic state led by Arabs and Persians that served as an important link connecting Asia, Europe, and North Africa since the 8th century.

Baghdad

The center of trade and wealth for the Abbasids that fell into decay as trade patterns shifted to routes farther north.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

A celebrated Islamic scholar ($1201—1274$) who contributed to astronomy, law, ethics, and medicine, and laid the groundwork for making trigonometry a separate subject.

Ibn Khaldun

An Islamic scholar ($1332—1406$) widely acknowledged as a founder of the fields of historiography and sociology.

'A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah

A prolific female Muslim writer and Sufi poet ($1460—1507$) whose most famous work is 'Clear Inspiration, on Praise of the Trusted One.'

Sufis

Muslims who emphasized introspection to grasp truths they believed could not be understood through learning; they played a key role in spreading Islam by adapting to local cultures.

Shariah

The common legal system used across Islamic states that helped form a unified cultural region.

Hijab

A term referring to the practice of dressing modestly or to a specific type of head and face covering common in the Islamic world.

Dowries

Payments prospective husbands made to secure brides; Muhammad insisted these be paid to the wife rather than her father.

Al-Andalus

The Islamic state in Spain which became a major center of learning during the Umayyad rule.

Battle of Tours

A rare defeat for Islamic armies in $732$ against Frankish forces, marking the limit of rapid Islamic expansion into Western Europe.

Dhows

Trade ships first developed in India or China with long, thin hulls that were used to carry goods into Spain and the rest of Europe.

Ibn Rushd

Known in Europe as Averroes, a 12th-century scholar in Spain who wrote influential works on law, secular philosophy, and the natural sciences.

Maimonides

A Jewish philosopher ($c. 1135—c. 1204$) who developed a synthesis of Aristotle's reasoning and biblical interpretation.